tele-prehension
Emerging from a sea of neurophenomenological and philosophical reading...
What's been nice with Ju going to daycare is that I now have lots of time to do work -- fabulous time. And much of it on the computer. And that's not necessarily good, because I am highly distractible and find myself checking facebook or my email or other favorite websites a hundred times whenever whatever I'm doing becomes the slightest bit boring or tedious. Need to come up with a plan for that.
One of the things I have been checking up on of late is the website and blog of my Long Lost Relative (who shall hereafter be known as LLR). LLR is an extremely intelligent person, a professor, a philosopher (though I'm a bit ambivalent calling her that, but that's her self-appointed title) and one who shares an uncanny list of other characteristics with me, though we have never met. On the other hand, she couldn't be more opposite -- crazy Christian conservative, and socially and politically conservative as well. Neil accuses me of "stalking" her on the net. Maybe I am, and the fact that I can't bring myself to post responses to her writing (even anonymously) probably confirms that. On the other hand, I know I certainly couldn't ever say anything that would change her mind. She is absolutely anti-abortion under any circumstances. Devout in her appreciation for the "one holy, catholic and apostolic church." Homeschools the kids. And blames liberals and Muslims for all that is evil in today's world.
Today, though, in particular, I want to show her all this cool stuff I'm reading, as it's fantastic -- Ken Wilber, Francisco Varela... I think she'd probably like it to an extent, though I'm sure she'd detect some liberal thoughts in there that would turn her off in an instant. Though it shouldn't -- much of it jibes with some of her philosophical writings (which, on the surface, seem quite defensive) -- that externalism doesn't sufficiently explain the world, let alone consciousness; that spirituality can and does exist somehow, even if not objectively verifiable, etc. It's the part in Wilber where he makes the point of accepting "all views, all the time" that would probably get him in trouble -- more liberal relativism there, which doesn't fit with LLR's belief in infalliable truth... which is out there, somewhere.
All of the reading, though, is somehow related to the Great Dissertation. Holy Cow. And it's only expanding what I see possible in my research. It'll prolly piss off Dear Advisor greatly when I get back to him on what I've learned, but it's his own fault -- he told me to read this stuff.
Onward... have a wonderful T-Day!!
What's been nice with Ju going to daycare is that I now have lots of time to do work -- fabulous time. And much of it on the computer. And that's not necessarily good, because I am highly distractible and find myself checking facebook or my email or other favorite websites a hundred times whenever whatever I'm doing becomes the slightest bit boring or tedious. Need to come up with a plan for that.
One of the things I have been checking up on of late is the website and blog of my Long Lost Relative (who shall hereafter be known as LLR). LLR is an extremely intelligent person, a professor, a philosopher (though I'm a bit ambivalent calling her that, but that's her self-appointed title) and one who shares an uncanny list of other characteristics with me, though we have never met. On the other hand, she couldn't be more opposite -- crazy Christian conservative, and socially and politically conservative as well. Neil accuses me of "stalking" her on the net. Maybe I am, and the fact that I can't bring myself to post responses to her writing (even anonymously) probably confirms that. On the other hand, I know I certainly couldn't ever say anything that would change her mind. She is absolutely anti-abortion under any circumstances. Devout in her appreciation for the "one holy, catholic and apostolic church." Homeschools the kids. And blames liberals and Muslims for all that is evil in today's world.
Today, though, in particular, I want to show her all this cool stuff I'm reading, as it's fantastic -- Ken Wilber, Francisco Varela... I think she'd probably like it to an extent, though I'm sure she'd detect some liberal thoughts in there that would turn her off in an instant. Though it shouldn't -- much of it jibes with some of her philosophical writings (which, on the surface, seem quite defensive) -- that externalism doesn't sufficiently explain the world, let alone consciousness; that spirituality can and does exist somehow, even if not objectively verifiable, etc. It's the part in Wilber where he makes the point of accepting "all views, all the time" that would probably get him in trouble -- more liberal relativism there, which doesn't fit with LLR's belief in infalliable truth... which is out there, somewhere.
All of the reading, though, is somehow related to the Great Dissertation. Holy Cow. And it's only expanding what I see possible in my research. It'll prolly piss off Dear Advisor greatly when I get back to him on what I've learned, but it's his own fault -- he told me to read this stuff.
Onward... have a wonderful T-Day!!