guloletters

thoughts shared between family and friends

to my father
23 March 1997:

Master Hiram:

I write you from the literal East as well as the speculative East and in so doing, extend warm fraternal greetings from the Coutchtown section of Warner - Salisbury New Hampshire. It has been my experience that matters of this sort are often easier to begin than to make good upon. But I have always held the symbolic tenets of the Masonic degrees in the highest regard - indeed I have made it a conscious effort to live in keeping with them.

Days go by, filled with a thousand tiny details - buttoning my shirt - picking up my keys - glancing at the bay tree - hearing the sound of water outside - none of which will be long remembered - yet it is the fabric of existence as perceived by our dim chemical awareness. In the words of Socrates, "I know that I know nothing" - for me it is inescapable: Nothing in the universe is truly knowable because by the very act of perception we are subject to the limitation of our own individual states of consciousness. As an example, I pose the Zen koan (lesson) which asks:" Identify the repository of the past" (Hint: It is your memory - your brain); The Zen master then asks: " Identify the repository of the future" (Hint: It is your imagination - your brain); Finally, the Zen master asks:" Identify the repository of the present" (You guessed it - all we are and indeed can know of is but a series of biochemical reactions between our ears!)

Now this does not mean that our journey need be filled with despair and hopelessness - rather quite the reverse is true - it can serve to foster humility - the childlike reverence one feels at the night sky - or the beauty of the day at its meridian height - the wonder and miracle of life. So go out and sniff the air - what you perceive is unique throughout all infinity and eternity - it will never come again. Each chronon brings with it a totally original altered state of consciousness. So in the words of the song: "Don’t worry - be happy."

So why get so into sentience? It’s personal - perspective is one of my favorite paradoxes (and Zen handles paradox with such elegance and ease). There is nothing in our "lives" that, if viewed from far enough away, does not become trivial - yet taken in our "personal world view" may take on heroic proportions. I guess it is because we have such a limited tenure.

How can we be expected to be that which we can not be? Our heritage seals our fate. We are a primitive (note the root "primate") uncivilized tribal species still taken to fear and violent behavior. And it is strictly who we are - no escape or change is available to us at this level. Example: There is a specific group of (male) sperm whose function it is to eradicate sperm deposited in the females fallopian tubes by another male. This demonstrates two things: First, the human propensity for violence is genetic in nature, and second, were the genetically dictated behavior of the female not a promiscuous one, this evolutionary adaptation would never have occurred.

But there’s good news too. This time it’s neural peptides. Listen to Wagner - neural peptides - see that gorgeous sunset of yours over the Organ mountains - neural peptides - hit the power ball number - you guessed it - neural peptides. Better living through chemistry. The same things that render us primitive also afford us this rich palette of emotional delight.

So when I "say" (to "say" is to create) that I love the snow and the hardship brought about by winter, it is but another color in the palette to be experienced - just like hot and sour soup. And as long as everything is simultaneously unique and happening simultaneously anyway - what’s not to like?? So I say bring on the snow - Carpe Diem - seize the day and be the world (you are anyway).

And while we are on the subject, what IS creation (creativity) anyway? Can anything truly original be ordained in a world where everything - every moment - is unique anyway? It would seem that we create our world simply by existing in it. We have no choice at all. None. Zippo. All we can do is to create. Even to "destroy" in the context we routinely use is really creating. Even entropy is creation. "Everything is becoming" is what you are fond of "saying" (there’s that word again). Who would have believed things would turn out this way?

Think of it this way: What if the seamless panorama we call reality is really a holodeck illusion (remember the holodeck on Star Trek TNG?) - how would we know? Our brain is a biochemical holodeck - it paints this picture called "reality" - how could we know of anything else? So ladies and gentlemen, the news (not so new) is, if you’re looking for the universe, start between your ears.

When I was in high school, during the summer vacations, I would stay up until after midnight DXing radio stations or working on my audio system. It would be terribly hot and stuffy in that tiny bedroom but I did not mind. When I finally went to bed, I would sometimes hear the sound of a train rumbling through with the great air horn blaring at the grade crossing down in the center of town. It was a care free time. The only worry I had was the next coming school year and how I could fake my way through. School was for the most part incomprehensible. Math was the worst. I never once had a clue to what was going on in algebra, trig, calc etc. The only math course I ever did well in was geometry - and that because it was tangible - intuitive. But ask me why a push - pull amplifier output stage was superior to a single ended output - WELL - that was cake. Young people with technical aptitude now do computer stuff - less often audio or radio;

But words - written expression - now there is MAGIC. Example: An image forms in my brain of an oyster - yes, an oyster. I focus on the crusty gritty irregular nature of the shell - cold and wet - various shades of brown and grey; I take my oyster knife, carefully slide it into the hinge and with a single turn of my wrist, the shell pries open with a crunch. I take the soft shapelessness of the meat and scoop it out and into my mouth with one motion of my knife. The meat is at once cool and sweet and briny and so rich - I have just created a time capsule - It is 8:51 AM Eastern time on 23 Mar 1997.

This oyster impression in my brain has now moved through "time" and "space" (whatever they are) and has now been implanted into your brain thousands of miles away at (look at your clock / calendar) TBD time;

The Zen postulate that urges you to BE the world is inescapable - indeed there is no choice but to BE. Eat your oatmeal. Stay above the game. Enjoy every day. Seek harmony. And don’t worry, be happy.

Love / gulo

PS: I regret not making use of the backs of these sheets of paper. Perhaps you can use the backs by writing me back thereby saving natural resources.

PPS: Your loop has been ordered and in fact you may have received it by the time this time capsule reaches you. I am very excited to see if we can work a schedule - I must say, however, that this weekend, 15 meters and even 20 meters were very poor - we will all have to wait for sunspots before a reliable path will be available -

From: Prof T. P. Elliot-Smith

To: wolverinedigital@comcast.net

Date: 12/9/98

Subject: Ant Hills

Your quotation of Albert Einstein reminds me of a bit I do in my Intro to Philosophy class.
When we arrive at Theology,I ask for definitions.  It's difficult to discuss undefined words,ideas concepts. The students discover there are many definitions, many characteristics.
I propose a picnic to celebrate the end of the Spring semester,to be held the day after finals. Last year at the Philosophy picnic we played a little softball. Someone rounded 3rd a little wide and stepped on an anthill, destroying it.
Try to explain to one of the ants who lost its home:

     What is third base?
     What is softball?
     What is a picnic?
     What is  a semester?
     What is Philosophy?

The degree to which we can make the ant understand is about the same as the degree that we understand that which is responsible for the universe.

T.P.