perception and the open doors
***
OR PERHAPS THE DOORS ARE CLOSED TO MOST OF US
We live together, we act on, we react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulate ecstasies; in vain. By it's very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies - all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes.
- Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception
I've picked up this slim book from time to time and always stop at that paragraph. This time I thought about it and wondered if this is a major source of the impulse to create. I am many times frustrated in my writing, trying to capture a feeling, experience, concept, I hope someone will pick up on. No one has the same background as me, the same influences, the same associations, the same outlook ... nor would I wish that on anyone. Still ...
Do you think that is a fair quotation? Has anyone truly known a person in which this isolation is less pronounced or, in some cases, non-existent ... even on the most primitive levels? Of course it's easy to say, "Sure, I had a brother, sister, friend, etc. and we were like one." But are any of us, and is this a hindrance in human development, a stumbling block, or perhaps necessary to our advancement? Would we be disturbed to see how others really experience and interact with their realities? The more I see group think in any form, the more frightened I become, so maybe being an island is a good thing..
Sometimes I wish people could really see themselves as others see them, although I don't know that I'd want that for myself. I don't think any of us could take it ... maybe that's why the world seems like a bad dream or a fairy tale sometimes. If only everyone could be like us ... right?
***
Want to see my famous parmesan pasta with garlic and olive oil? I thought I'd share the experience, even if on a superficial level:
Parmesan Pasta with Garlic and Olive Oil
***
Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say
Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
***
OR PERHAPS THE DOORS ARE CLOSED TO MOST OF US
We live together, we act on, we react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulate ecstasies; in vain. By it's very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies - all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes.
- Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception
I've picked up this slim book from time to time and always stop at that paragraph. This time I thought about it and wondered if this is a major source of the impulse to create. I am many times frustrated in my writing, trying to capture a feeling, experience, concept, I hope someone will pick up on. No one has the same background as me, the same influences, the same associations, the same outlook ... nor would I wish that on anyone. Still ...
Do you think that is a fair quotation? Has anyone truly known a person in which this isolation is less pronounced or, in some cases, non-existent ... even on the most primitive levels? Of course it's easy to say, "Sure, I had a brother, sister, friend, etc. and we were like one." But are any of us, and is this a hindrance in human development, a stumbling block, or perhaps necessary to our advancement? Would we be disturbed to see how others really experience and interact with their realities? The more I see group think in any form, the more frightened I become, so maybe being an island is a good thing..
Sometimes I wish people could really see themselves as others see them, although I don't know that I'd want that for myself. I don't think any of us could take it ... maybe that's why the world seems like a bad dream or a fairy tale sometimes. If only everyone could be like us ... right?
***
Want to see my famous parmesan pasta with garlic and olive oil? I thought I'd share the experience, even if on a superficial level:
Parmesan Pasta with Garlic and Olive Oil
***
Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say
Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
***