I love the story of the centipede. I know that if I wake up and think in detail about how I'll go about my day I'll freeze or get depressed at the overwhelming sensation of it all. But if I just get up and live in the moment of what I need/want to do I'm good. I was talking with this lovely woman at the gym this morning about connecting with certain individuals that we're unexplainably drawn to. I suppose if I thought about it I could give some reasons why I'm drawn to certain people, art, music, etc..........but that initial attraction to anything comes from something no words can describe as the reaction comes from a deep place where language doesn't exist.
It seems to me like we all think we are sharing the same reality with everyone else, and in a way we are on a superficial level but on the other hand we are all in our own little unique world that only we experience. This is becuase of what we notice or don't notice, who or what we encounter from one moment to the next, all uniqie experiences, Everything is infinutely unique. Nothing ever happens twice even if it seems like it does. If that is the case, the more we pay attention to things, circumstances, events, our thoughts, the more avaiable we are to accept this changing nature of things without fear, trapidation or resistance, the more things seem to work out in amazing ways. Mostly just by having a stance of being open and courious. Still, 'Shit Happens' sometimes. That's part of the dynamics of it all maybe. But I think under it all is the Great Harmony as I call it, the Tao or whatever. The more we are alligned with that undercurrent the better off we are. I see an article... Watch for that.
Ooh yes, I'd love to read about you elaborating on all that. That kind of stuff really feeds my soul. And I'm sure I've mentioned this but one of my favorite quotes is from Anais Nin and I have it at the end of all my emails; it reads: "We don't see things as they are, we see things as WE are." Hence.........can cause people to argue and fight or agree to disagree.
Yes, and if we could add to that: "Hence.........can cause people to argue and fight or agree to disagree" we could also take the effort to merely explore other people's perspective. I some times ask people "That is your phylosophy of life?" Everybody has one after all. How to they approach their own unique world that only they live in? We might not like it or want to live in that world with them but it is interesting to see how they describe their world and their approach to it. Every now and then somebody says something interesting that is worth considering. We are all a hidden treasure, an undiscovered country even among our friends.
Looking forward to reading it! Thank you Cecil. I'm often curious about others' philosophy of life and how their experiences have colored how/what they see and believe. And I've learned about my own by really listening to what they have to say and even have adopted some of their knowledge.
As a psychiatrist it drives me nuts to read each new report about the functional MRI findings that confirm or prove the presence of a label ( ADHD, etc. ). As Cecil wisely writes, these are the traces- not a thing, not a fact, just a correlation, or just a hypothesis of something.
Tolstoy said something like " I noticed the crease of a woman's elbow " as part of the emergence of Anna Karenina. Thank you Cecil
As the story goes (according to my brief research), Tolstoy was resting on a sofa after dinner when he experienced a sudden, waking vision of a beautiful, aristocratic elbow. This singular visual anchor began to expand in his imagination until it revealed a melancholic woman in an elegant ball gown, who would ultimately become his tragic heroine.
Apparently, Tolstoy originally drafted the story with a much harsher moral judgment, planning to write about a vulgar, "fallen woman". However, his artistic empathy took over, transforming Anna into a deeply complex and sympathetic character.
This original vision eventually fused with real-world inspirations, including the physical appearance of Alexander Pushkin’s daughter, Maria Hartung, and the tragic suicide of Anna Pirogova, a neighbor’s housekeeper who threw herself under a train.
Hard to get all of that out of some MRI measurements I would think. Or maybe the MRI results become a psychiatrist's version of the 'woman's elbow' leading down the narrative trail of diagnosis and treatment program? Maybe it is all story telling.
I love the story of the centipede. I know that if I wake up and think in detail about how I'll go about my day I'll freeze or get depressed at the overwhelming sensation of it all. But if I just get up and live in the moment of what I need/want to do I'm good. I was talking with this lovely woman at the gym this morning about connecting with certain individuals that we're unexplainably drawn to. I suppose if I thought about it I could give some reasons why I'm drawn to certain people, art, music, etc..........but that initial attraction to anything comes from something no words can describe as the reaction comes from a deep place where language doesn't exist.
It seems to me like we all think we are sharing the same reality with everyone else, and in a way we are on a superficial level but on the other hand we are all in our own little unique world that only we experience. This is becuase of what we notice or don't notice, who or what we encounter from one moment to the next, all uniqie experiences, Everything is infinutely unique. Nothing ever happens twice even if it seems like it does. If that is the case, the more we pay attention to things, circumstances, events, our thoughts, the more avaiable we are to accept this changing nature of things without fear, trapidation or resistance, the more things seem to work out in amazing ways. Mostly just by having a stance of being open and courious. Still, 'Shit Happens' sometimes. That's part of the dynamics of it all maybe. But I think under it all is the Great Harmony as I call it, the Tao or whatever. The more we are alligned with that undercurrent the better off we are. I see an article... Watch for that.
Ooh yes, I'd love to read about you elaborating on all that. That kind of stuff really feeds my soul. And I'm sure I've mentioned this but one of my favorite quotes is from Anais Nin and I have it at the end of all my emails; it reads: "We don't see things as they are, we see things as WE are." Hence.........can cause people to argue and fight or agree to disagree.
Yes, and if we could add to that: "Hence.........can cause people to argue and fight or agree to disagree" we could also take the effort to merely explore other people's perspective. I some times ask people "That is your phylosophy of life?" Everybody has one after all. How to they approach their own unique world that only they live in? We might not like it or want to live in that world with them but it is interesting to see how they describe their world and their approach to it. Every now and then somebody says something interesting that is worth considering. We are all a hidden treasure, an undiscovered country even among our friends.
I'll post that new article on Monday.
Looking forward to reading it! Thank you Cecil. I'm often curious about others' philosophy of life and how their experiences have colored how/what they see and believe. And I've learned about my own by really listening to what they have to say and even have adopted some of their knowledge.
As a psychiatrist it drives me nuts to read each new report about the functional MRI findings that confirm or prove the presence of a label ( ADHD, etc. ). As Cecil wisely writes, these are the traces- not a thing, not a fact, just a correlation, or just a hypothesis of something.
Tolstoy said something like " I noticed the crease of a woman's elbow " as part of the emergence of Anna Karenina. Thank you Cecil
Thank you for responding Garry!
As the story goes (according to my brief research), Tolstoy was resting on a sofa after dinner when he experienced a sudden, waking vision of a beautiful, aristocratic elbow. This singular visual anchor began to expand in his imagination until it revealed a melancholic woman in an elegant ball gown, who would ultimately become his tragic heroine.
Apparently, Tolstoy originally drafted the story with a much harsher moral judgment, planning to write about a vulgar, "fallen woman". However, his artistic empathy took over, transforming Anna into a deeply complex and sympathetic character.
This original vision eventually fused with real-world inspirations, including the physical appearance of Alexander Pushkin’s daughter, Maria Hartung, and the tragic suicide of Anna Pirogova, a neighbor’s housekeeper who threw herself under a train.
Hard to get all of that out of some MRI measurements I would think. Or maybe the MRI results become a psychiatrist's version of the 'woman's elbow' leading down the narrative trail of diagnosis and treatment program? Maybe it is all story telling.