Kaleidoscope (and Knowledge)
Emotions, perception and interpersonal relationships shift and dance in ever unfurling, never repeated patterns. As one nears focus, another explodes as if a micro-universe playing out the life of its stars in a day. Though beautiful, can it be meaningful if it doesn’t endure or hold its shape? If wisdom is observed, noted, studied it might be said to exist. If it tumbles into a new form that is never gazed upon again it retains its mystery but loses its solidity. If it stands still, it stops developing and creating but is petrified and sought to be ‘understood’ by humanity. The ultimate arrogance is that we can make pronouncements about life, the universe and everything when our individual time on the planet is so short and the relay race of the transmission of knowledge runs with no points of certainty and no hope of continuity.
Karma
Does this exist? Should we rely on it? Or is it a convenient way of commandeering coincidence to allow us to not dwell on injustice? If we can let go of the need for vengeance are we healthier or happier? Or just relieved that we don’t have to do our own dirty work. Of course I’d like to not wish ill on people who’ve let me down or upset me. Or would I? Maybe plotting their downfall or comeuppance is a guilty pleasure and imbuing the process with natural inevitability lets me off scot free.
Keel, even
Is steering a steady course through life enviable? Possible? If you never have to call all hands to the deck do you know whose support you have? I’ve spent a lot of my life avoiding risk and confrontation (largely as I lump them together). But as I summit ‘the hill’ and start the decline down the other side that physics dictates I’m wanting to do it kicking and screaming. Causing a fuss, pointing out the bumps in the road and dragging ’em all down with me. Well, I will do when I am ready and can do it with decorum. And the sailing metaphor? It might be faster to cut straight through the water like a knife but it looks more fun to tack here and there catching the breeze and living. And I am not sure I want to cut through life as fast as I can.
Keen
I was once nominated as ‘most keen’ in my university year. It may be true, I can be keen as mustard… to linger in the heart but end up inadvertently polluting the breath of humanity. To prove I was here… but instead I leave a luminescent stain that dulls, not illuminates its observers. I get ideas, sometimes even energy and revel in my genius. The urge to share this self-satisfaction comes from a desire to give my hopes a glimpse of attention but ‘sharing’ seems to cut others like a dagger in the back. Do my aims detract from anyone else? Not on purpose but I can’t control anybody else despite a sustained campaign. I don’t see allowing my wishes as mutually excluding others’ but my being excited about them apparently puts the wind up those people, the vast majority – those who do not get me. So my keenness leaves me forging ahead alone cutting no swath whatsoever.
Kiss
I’ve often wondered what other species think of our mating rituals… flamingos, swans, spiders and even Japanese puffer fish have elegant and extravagant displays of courtship. Though to be pedantic kissing is part of mating rather than wooing, isn’t it an odd thing to do? Interlocking our most sensitive attributes may have some merit and getting lost in the experience can be exquisitely exhilarating because of this. But is our enthusiasm about another’s dentition? tongue control or freshness of breath? Moistness? Do these confer an evolutionary advantage? I imagine kissing is some kind of prototype for the sex act and helps get things ready. But why does it excite us so when it is, for me anyway, a rather disgusting concept? Some suggest it is a way to get close enough to ensure genetic compatibility, (which our ancestors used to do by sniffing each other according to BBC Earth) but I suspect our interpersonal biological sample sequencing equipment is less sensitive than it needs to be to make good choices. Fact is our conscious brains seem to have gotten involved so we layer in mystery, romance and synchronous world views and suddenly procreation decisions are harder, or more unwise.
Kitchen
My domain…where I prepare celebrations, nurture my loved ones, share with my friends, comfort myself and escape. The heart of the home? Gadgets and goo, sweet things and melty stew. It is just supposed to keep us moving – food is fuel. Though the way in which all of our senses contribute to dreaming up, sourcing, cooking and devouring a meal means it is an experience in itself.
Knowing
Can we know something that isn’t true? Can we know everything about anything? Is being comfortable with uncertainty healthier? Who is happier – a satisfied pig or a dissatisfied Socrates? It is more fun floating down the stream of life untethered by the chains of education? Or does that leave you more vulnerable to the prevailing wind of whatever myths and idols society is trumped by? I don’t know…
PsychCoblog 