*crosspost*

I made the mistake of rereading Aldous Huxley's "Doors of Perception" last night. And when I say reread I really mean I started rereading but got no further than page 6 in the .pdf version. It's here where Huxley quotes Dr. C.D. Broad:

"that we should do well to consider much more seriously than we have hitherto been inclined to do the type of theory which Bergson put forward in connection with memory and sense perception. The suggestion is that the function of the brain and nervous system and sense organs is in the main eliminative and not productive. Each person is at each moment capable of remembering all that has ever happened to him and of perceiving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe. The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only that very small and special selection which is likely to be practically useful."

Since I have the attention span of a gnat and the curiosity of a cat (poetic licence revoked due to unintentional and most unfortunate use of rhyme) I first flitted about the 'net researching Dr. Broad, whom in my world order would be a woman. After a bowl of popcorn and two coffees later, I was all about Henri Bergson. French philosopher that I had heard of but never paid much attention to - I was too much involved in duelling dualism for spite. "Descartes, you can suck my dick." How Freudian can a girl be??

Back to Bergson.

"The finished portrait is explained by the features of the model, by the nature of the artist, by the colors spread out on the palette; but, even with the knowledge of what explains it, no one, not even the artist, could have foreseen exactly what the portrait would be, for to predict it would have been to produce it before it was produced--an absurd hypothesis which is its own refutation. Even so with regard to the moments of our life, of which we are the artisans. Each of them is a kind of creation."

This is soft-core porn for me.

Most sad of all is not being able to talk to anyone about it. We watched "Tomb Raider" and when we started discussing masonic imagery, the 'illuminati', etc, I had just mentioned Eco's Foucault's Pendulum and he interrupted me with "hey, if I bought you a pair of shorts like Lara's..." Oh yes, he is my dream man.

Irrelevant.

"Each person is at each moment capable of remembering all that has ever happened to him and of perceiving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe." What is that myth about Archangel Gabriel, again? Something of us knowing all the secrets of the universe in utero but then the Angel touches the top of our lip so we don't remember. Hence why we have that indent (philtrum) or groove between top lip and nose. That doesn't matter, either. I just like where that quote takes me.

On a side note, I'd love to have been at a dinner table, seated between Huxley and Hunter S. Thompson. Hard core.

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A new pet peeve: You are sick of Harry Potter and Harry Potter fans. You label them, you make fun of them, snottily claim to have never read one of the books and never will. You don't understand the psycho fans. You must blog about how it frustrates you.

All the power to you.

I have read the books. I enjoyed them. I was tired of the hype, yes, but I would rather my children (and yours) get hyped about a book and be bombarded with media news of literature than I would about music or movies. Funny - I don't hear you bitching about all the gala surrounding Terminator 3 or Legally Blonde 2. I'm sorry, what's that? You don't mind hearing for the 23rd time about how good Demi looks in a bikini at the age of 40? Good for you. In the mean time, realize that you look hypocritical when you bitch about the dumbing down of society while lambasting something that actually gets kids motivated to read.

.dar.