10 November 2002: Chicken Soup

More of my writings about Reality from the Moot Zoo:

I take it as given that every time I make an observation or a statement of "fact," what I'm really stating is a belief, and that every time anyone makes an observation or a statement of "fact," what they're really stating is a belief. This is a basic truth underlying all communication - or so I believe. It's a conclusion that follows logically from my already-stated beliefs that "Each person has his or her own subjective reality, which is an experience of Reality as filtered through that particular person's mind, senses, and tensions" and that "No living person's ordinary subjective reality can ever be a perfect (or even near-perfect) representation of Reality."

In ordinary human consciousness, there are no objective observations of phenomena - only beliefs which are interpretations of phenomena. Or so I believe. Like my other basic beliefs about Reality, this can only be a belief, and if someone else holds an opposing view, that can also only be a belief, since neither my view, the opposing view, nor any other interpretation of Reality can be conclusively proven (except to those whose beliefs and/or biases already predispose them to accept such a proof).

And also this clarification of my earlier statement that "There are also lesser extraordinary states of consciousness in which one does not experience Reality directly, but in which one's subjective reality shifts so as to offer a perspective dramatically from one's ordinary perspective, thus providing new information about the shape of Reality":

Many of these "lesser extraordinary states" (the states associated with what the DSM IV calls "Personality Disorders"; the states induced by inhaling solvents or doing PCP; the flashbacks that come with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome; the state that the Moonies induce in their victims) are considerably further from Reality than ordinary consciousness is. Experiencing these states can still offer new information about Reality, if only by the contrast they provide. Of course, such states are only useful if one can come back from them to some state of psychic equilibrium in which one can process the information and put it in its proper place. And just because one can glean something of value from such states doesn't mean they should be sought out. I learn from fucked-up states (a technical term I use to describe states in which one's consciousness is further from Reality than ordinary consciousness is) when they happen to me, but I do my best to avoid them, and to seek states that either bring me closer to Reality, or stabilize my psychic equilibrium. Getting hooked on crack or joining the Moonies just for the information about Reality is like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer so as to provide a contrast that will deepen your understanding of what comfort is. God is generous, and will hit us with hammers and arranges for us to experience fucked-up states without our having to do any work to seek out such experiences.

Recovering from being sick.  Dragon Lady's got it now; went over to her place after aikido today and watched movies and ate chicken soup.  My god, that woman can cook chicken soup.  I thought only Jews could make chicken soup like that.  Plus, I love her.

My Pack page is up to 24 links now - more than enough for a complete set of Major Arcana, if I wanted to play the game of attributing them, which I don't.  (Hmm... Geminica is the Empress, Zann is the High Priestess... no, really, I don't want to think about this.) 

Also, even if you don't have the good sense to be a regular reader of Geminica's journal, check out her amazing mini-essay on the beauty of geekdom, in her entry for today.

Ah, Geminica.  I guess I'll be seeing her in a few weeks, and that will be good.  The New Year's Quickening approaches fast... Gemrise returns to the Bay Area (and to a futon in my living room) on December 10th.  Dragon Lady and I go to Vegas in three weeks, so I can feed her to my family, and then on Christmas I get fed to her family in Dallas, and then we come back and it's New Year's and the Bone Council and the Long-Expected Party, and my parents will be coming to town for that.  How about you?  If you're coming in from elsewhere, gaunt and dusty grey with roaming, I've still got two futons in my living room that no one's reserved yet...