Our thoughts are prisons. Our brains are too simple for reality, so we need icons as a crutch. Words are those icons. But we forget that words are boxes that we add up to build castles. But, what is a castle? It is something that locks things out and in. If we forget that, we imprison ourselves in our thoughts, which is why running into reality is so important.
What see what we understand. The brain tries to efficiently use the limited space we have for conscious observation and thought; it is extremely valuable space indeed. Things that our eyes experience are elevated to conscious thought if relevant, as determined by the brain. In completely normal settings we focus on exceptions that we find interesting; we direct our attention, or tell our brain what to elevate for our consideration.
Sometimes it’s more mundane, but equally important. If I have an important job interview tomorrow morning I set the alarm clock. My ears continue to work, sound waves experienced by my ears as organized and understood by the brain’s software, are not important so the brain doesn’t elevate them for conscious consideration. My ears and brain don’t stop working, they simply aren’t experiencing something that I should know about. When the alarm go off, the same process is at work; my ears sense sound waves and by brain’s software processes them, except this time it matters, so the sounds are elevated for my consideration, I hear them and get up. This is why when sleeping in a strange room, we sleep poorly; our brain is unsure about unfamiliar sounds. Nothing can be done about this process directly; a million years of evolution makes us the way we are in this regard. What can be done, however, is the conscious direction of our sensory system to enhance our experience of our reality.
Art is important in this regard because it sidesteps the word castle problem by diminishing the importance of words, or in the case of poetry, changing the way words are used and what they mean. Is it “thought” to experience the thrill of the “Ode to Joy”? It is both thought, to the extent we understand what Beethoven is doing in the context or his era, but it is more than that because we feel; the sounds mysteriously avoid the word castle and go straight to the heart of the matter. “Mysteriously” is the key. All great Art does this in a poorly understood way; we slip the surly bonds of our “reality” and experience something that feels beyond that reality yet is clearly part of our reality. In so doing, Art expands what we understand and allows us to see more fully what our existence has the ability to show us by giving our prison a courtyard; a window to a more meaningful kingdom.
Blog 97: We see what we understand
Our thoughts are prisons. Our brains are too simple for reality, so we need icons as a crutch. Words are those icons. But we forget that words are boxes that we add up to build castles. But, what is a castle? It is something that locks things out and in. If we forget that, we imprison ourselves in our thoughts, which is why running into reality is so important.
What see what we understand. The brain tries to efficiently use the limited space we have for conscious observation and thought; it is extremely valuable space indeed. Things that our eyes experience are elevated to conscious thought if relevant, as determined by the brain. In completely normal settings we focus on exceptions that we find interesting; we direct our attention, or tell our brain what to elevate for our consideration.
Sometimes it’s more mundane, but equally important. If I have an important job interview tomorrow morning I set the alarm clock. My ears continue to work, sound waves experienced by my ears as organized and understood by the brain’s software, are not important so the brain doesn’t elevate them for conscious consideration. My ears and brain don’t stop working, they simply aren’t experiencing something that I should know about. When the alarm go off, the same process is at work; my ears sense sound waves and by brain’s software processes them, except this time it matters, so the sounds are elevated for my consideration, I hear them and get up. This is why when sleeping in a strange room, we sleep poorly; our brain is unsure about unfamiliar sounds. Nothing can be done about this process directly; a million years of evolution makes us the way we are in this regard. What can be done, however, is the conscious direction of our sensory system to enhance our experience of our reality.
Art is important in this regard because it sidesteps the word castle problem by diminishing the importance of words, or in the case of poetry, changing the way words are used and what they mean. Is it “thought” to experience the thrill of the “Ode to Joy”? It is both thought, to the extent we understand what Beethoven is doing in the context or his era, but it is more than that because we feel; the sounds mysteriously avoid the word castle and go straight to the heart of the matter. “Mysteriously” is the key. All great Art does this in a poorly understood way; we slip the surly bonds of our “reality” and experience something that feels beyond that reality yet is clearly part of our reality. In so doing, Art expands what we understand and allows us to see more fully what our existence has the ability to show us by giving our prison a courtyard; a window to a more meaningful kingdom.