|
October 18, 2000. Today’s
news comes to you from the Portuguese city of Portoconfusio, birthplace
of Ferdinand Magellan’s younger brother, (whose own troubled history
as an explorer we shall not herein revive.) But being here does bring
to mind a popular theme that has held man’s attention throughout the
ages: the idea of a man, "Losing his way."
From adventure myths found throughout
the world, to the Hebrews lost in the desert, to the story of The Prodigal
Son, to Dante’s Inferno, and to countless contemporary examples in film
and fiction, there appears a character who announces: "I
have lost my way." Not lost his way physically, (unless in
an obviously metaphorical work), but rather he has lost his way internally.
He has lost his sense of direction and purpose.
He has lost his non physical, inner-man,
bearings in life.
This story line has never lost its appeal, and the character who states
that he has, "lost his way" is immediately embraced as heroic.
His confession is instantly accepted as proof of his superior nature
and insight.
Ordinary minds see this admission not as evidence of ineptness
and stupidity, which would be the reaction to a grown man physically
getting himself lost in the midst of everyday life, but as long as the
disorientation is internal, (that is to say that it is in a man’s head),
then the confession is not merely tolerated, it is admired, often to
the point of being parroted.
Everyone believes that they quite understand
what a man means when he says he has, "Lost his way," but
no one ever analyzes either the idea, or their own ready understanding
thereof.
In the most common representations the hero who confesses
that he has lost his way is shown to have done so due to his succumbing
to some so-called, physical vice, such as alcohol, or illicit sex, but
such infantile examples are of no interest or use to us here, and I
only make note of them so that you will also.
There is no lack of such stories which are taken to represent a time
in the life of a reflective man wherein he suddenly seems to no longer,
"know where he is going", or indeed, even what being alive
is all about, and there are some mind which do picture them in metaphysical
terms..
Religion proclaims that such a man needs to "find
god," while the psychologically-philosophically inclined conclude
that such a man needs to, "find himself." Which takes
care of 99+% of the world’s population.
Then there
are the few who want to,"wake-up."
In what special style have they,
"Lost their way?" and
exactly what is it that they are
trying to find?
First ask yourself:
"What is there about me that could, ‘get lost’?"
You have two systems that control your orientation in life, and coordinate
all your responses thereto, (simply put for our purposes): the hormonal
& the neural. All of your actions are dictated by either hormones
or neurons, (and in reality, combinations thereof, but to keep the focus
on our instant point we will verbally picture that everything you do
is controlled by either hormones, or neurons.) So consider: What
aspect of me could get non fatally, ‘lost’?" Obviously not
your hormonal activity, which would simply result in illness, and eventual
death. So the sensation of having, "lost your way" is
one strictly neural in nature.
So –
of the two,
we have the control system that is the fastest,
the most complex, and the one most adaptable to changing circumstances
confessing that it has, "lost its way."
Do you not find this curious,
and worthy of non routine consideration?!
How can your neurons lose their way?
Where do they have to wander off to?
What would make them leave their natural path?
Neuron-thoughts cannot answer these questions,
(one fact alone that should wake an alert man up,
or at least cause him to vigorously thrash in his sleep.)
How can neurons seriously say that they have, "lost their way"
and not be able to explain how this is possible?!
How can neurons seriously say that they have, "lost their way"
and not be able to explain how this is possible, AND NOT PUT
two & two together?!
A displaced moses does not wander about
confused, in a barren desert, seeking a promised land --
it is the other way around.
Certain neurons in his brain "wander about" by
sending out continual inquiries throughout their system, seeking an
answer as to their own identity.
Hormones have no identity crisis.
Hormones never feel lost.
Hormones are the origins and fuel source of neurons.
Neurons-as-thoughts, always feel lost,
and neurons-as-thoughts never know who they are,
and there is a simple explanation.
Once neural activity is experienced as conscious thought it feels itself
to be a "something", an actual, "thing" as opposed
to the "activity" that it really is.
Thus you have a hormonal-cum-neural, moses-the-verb mentally
inventing himself as a noun, and upon so doing, immediately having the
sensation of being lost and not knowing who he is.
When not engaged in survival essential activity,
if man’s neural control system did not, "feel lost",
and, "wander about"
we would not be living in this most physically agreeable, mortally-manipulated
world that we do.
That a given, and that aside -- back to
The curious-case-of-the-few.
From one view those who identify their
primary interest in life as being wrapped up in the notion they heard
of & adopted, (to wit): to, "wake up", or to, "achieve
enlightenment", could be said to experience the neural sensation
of being internally, "lost", to a rare degree.
….okay, let us say that --
but now let me point your attention here:
If you go after finding the goal and getting yourself un-lost
without ever realizing what the, "lost-ness" IS -- how
can you possibly succeed?
You can’t.
You will stay lost.
You may well enjoy your wandering about.
You may indeed find pleasure in your apparent efforts to find a way
out of the feeling of, "being lost",
but have no doubt, you will stay lost;
you will remain stuck in your neural feeling of having, "lost your
way"
when there is no way from which you can GET lost,
and there is no promised land of Enlightenment, and,
"finding yourself" outside of yourself;
outside of your own searching neural system.
At the Magellan, BIG BROTHER level, (can you stand it?!):
a man who believes he has "lost his way"
has not lost his way –
-- he just thinks he has,
and a man who believes that he is "asleep",
is not asleep --
-- he just thinks he is.
This of course -- obviously --
cannot be true --
………I don’t even know why I said it (?!?!)
The entire revered history of honorable men who struggled to awaken
denies what I just said –
………so obviously I am in the wrong.
….I simply have no idea what possessed me to say such a thing(!?!?)
Well, the café in which I sit is about to close for the afternoon,
so I guess I will wander about the town for a bit, but remember: I know
where you are -- AND
I know that you have not lost your way……
…..allowing of course for the extremely unlikely event that you have
seriously entertained your neurons saying that you, I’m sorry, I mean,
them saying that they have.
Don’t sweat it -- I know where
you are,
and
you are not lost yet.
Jan
Well…P.S. I feel like I gotta mention this,
(just in case):
It can be fun to feel lost --
IF you don’t have anything better to do.
There is a destiny to the life of man.
There is also a denial of a destiny.
Thus is the full life of man.
:
|