Ffolkes,
Good morning, and welcome to my little corner of the Big Blue Room, such as it is…..

“Much of what sophisticates loftily refer to as the “complexity” of the real world is in fact the inconsistency in their own minds.” — Thomas Sowell

There is still a lot of controversy among philosophers, who live for just that reason, i.e., to discuss at length whatever small differences of opinion they may find. The controversy to which I refer deals with the nature of Reality, and its degree of complexity. Mr. Sowell above chimes in with his two cents to argue in favor of simplicity, saying the universe, or ‘real world’ is less complex than some would have us believe, due to their own preconceived misconceptions, of which I am sure Mr. Sowell does not suffer. (NOT!) Other philosophers might tell us that Reality is very complex, far too complex for our puny minds to comprehend without their first giving us their interpretation of that complexity. And, as always, the true answer to such a question is somewhere in the middle of these two camps of alleged thought.

Truth, for some reason probably tied into the nature of that Reality we try to understand, almost always will fall right in the middle of two opposing theories that attempt to ascertain its exact parameters. It is absolutely pitiless in its unconcern with whatever set of rules we may try to develop that reflect what we believe to be its nature. Nor will it care if those rules are wrong; it will merely squash like a little bug whomever tries to use them. Most often, when people try to make rules about Reality, we get punched in the figurative nose, a surefire method for establishing a parameter.

What do I think? I think that it is best not to define Reality, but rather just to take it at face value. Sometimes it is horrendously complex, and I will feel overwhelmed with trying to sort out all the little pieces of whatever I’ve encountered. Other times, it is ridiculously simple, so simple we think it is too easy, and feel a sense of unease, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. So, in my mind, it is best to not try to hard to understand, but rather learn to accept without understanding. It tends to cause less bloodshed that way……

I’m going to disconnect your brain.

Brain disconnection sounds pretty scary, but in actuality it is a very valuable ability to possess. That sounds somewhat dubious, I’m sure, but is accurate nonetheless, and I’m gonna tell you why. You see, the mind is housed in the brain, and we may thus say it is connected to it directly. The mind, however, is not simply connected to the brain; by virtue of our senses, it is also connected to Reality, the outside world, the Big Blue Room. (For the uninitiated, the Big Blue Room is everything outside the computer room.) This connection is monitored by whatever part of the mind (which has many layers, and can multi-task endlessly) we choose, using a set of rules we develop over our formative years. These rules, fashioned by that part of the mind that reasons, determine how successful we are in dealing with whatever Reality throws at us. For different activities and situations, there are different sets of rules, all figured out in the subconscious, which sees all, hears all, and thinks about it a lot, using a variety of thought patterns and intuitive guesswork to ascertain which rules are useful, and which are not in responding to the current challenge from Reality.

By disconnecting the brain, then, we mean that the connection to the outside world is suspended, as is the conscious mind, and the subconscious mind then is free to act without restraint, processing Reality in order to render it either acceptable, or manipulable through application of pertinent rules. Zen philosophy has promulgated this ability to ‘disconnect’, even having a word to describe the state of mind one assumes when our mind enters the disconnect modality. The word is zazen, and means the state of mind one enters when One with Reality. Western civilization calls this experience an epiphany, a moment when one experiences true Reality, and understands all. The difference between the two cultures, East and West, is best shown in this comparative analysis; to the Western mind, this mind state occurs randomly, whereas Zen philosophy teaches that zazen can be induced by meditation and deep thought.

    Regardless of whether one believes it can be induced, or merely accepted when encountered, is immaterial; the knowledge is there, available to those who would find it of use. Being able to induce this state of deep understanding within ourselves can be seen then, as an extremely valuable skill to develop……

Some people drive as if turn signals were an option.

Hey, if I can’t use this forum to complain about those things in life that just burn my ass, what is it good for, right? Right…..driving around on the roads today is very different than it was when I first began driving back in 1966. In that era, we were just beginning to get an inkling of how city driving would change in the next few years, turning from mildly congested traffic to continual and frequent gridlock. Unfortunately, as the number of cars on the road has grown, the use of driving techniques we were all taught to make the roads safe for all have slowly disappeared from use. The use of turn signals, or more accurately the disuse of turn signals, is probably the most ubiquitous of these sadly missing habits. The practice of not paying any attention to other drivers on the road extends even into the police, who are by far the worst offenders in this category of bad habits. These days, I feel a big surprise when I see a police vehicle, or anyone else for that matter, give a correct signal of a lane change, or to turn a corner. Not signaling has become de rigeur; nobody bothers with it anymore, except me, and I do it mainly out of irritation. So few people signal anymore, it is almost annoying when they do, because I can’t trust that they didn’t mean it, or trust that they will actually do what they are signaling they will do. Driving in today’s world is becoming one long irritation after another, as the ‘Entitled Ones’ scurry around in their Escalades, Beemers, and Mercedes, completely ignoring everyone else on the road.  Hmph! Now I feel grumpy. I’m gonna go flip some driver the bird……

And just so I don’t carry that grumpiness any further into the day, we will call a halt, even though I could carry on in this vein for another thousand words easily…..So….y’all take care out there……

Kowabunga!