A Non-Sequitur About Wonder

Oct 03, 2024 13:01

There is a story I often think about ( Read more... )

wondering, writing

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Comments 18

tigerweave October 12 2024, 18:39:38 UTC
Yeah nar. So... the pathways of the senses have to be kinda carved into the brain as a kid. There's a point where no matter how fully the senses are restored, the pathways are no longer there. Or, for a kid, not developed ( ... )

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geminiwench October 13 2024, 00:02:23 UTC
This was a story they told about themselves, or at least this is how it was translated and expressed through an interview about a lot of things.
People do and believe a lot of things that seem impossible, like building bombs capable of killing millions in a single blast,.... like that's insane, and yet we invested in inventing and building THOSE that rather than feeding everyone... for instance. People do crazy things for crazy reasons, and nothing seems unbelievable when people are involved, to me so I wasn't trying to make a value judgement or put the Kogi story as the only version of their reality and beliefs... or that it is good or bad or right or wrong or real or fake or lies or misinformation or useful or helpful or anything...

I was just saying...
... its a story I think about often.

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tigerweave October 17 2024, 06:23:30 UTC

Fair enough.

However, I also think it's very important to have a healthy sense of sceptisism. In Australia we call in passing the pub test.

I guess in my case it's not passing the neuroscience pub test given I'm not an expert but I DO have extensive lived experience of people with sensory disabilities And this is a created disability.

As such ... I'm glad to hear it's a story. The idea of deliberately creating a disability for anyone let alone a child at birth is, to me who has lived with her own serious disability since she was 12, abhorrent. And that's how I react to this story. The concept is abhorrent.

If you see wonder and so forth in this story, hey, no worries.

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tigerweave October 12 2024, 18:42:27 UTC
Oh and also I remember in Tasmania at Port arthur, they used to put convincts into complete darkness and silences for solitary confinement. Like for years for some. And they'd be pretty much blind when they came out. I can't remember if they ever recovered their sight properly, but it's just ... Seeing the effect of going deaf on mum, it's not just the hearing but the brain interpreting the sounds properly as words...

Yeah. I think... it doesn't quite ring true, this story.

Also... why is wonder and curiousity held in such high esteem. Like... this is a general question not about the story but if you/whoever wanted it, then just .. be that way yourself then? Like ... why or maybe what is so difficult about it? I've never really understood!

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geminiwench October 12 2024, 23:53:06 UTC
Learning about their traditional cultural practice doesn't clarify all their reasons or answer anyone's deeper questions about why or if its worth it...

And I think that's a good questions... why they require a martyr or a sacrifice to keep their sense of wonder a living thing in their tribe?
Is THAT the only way? REALLY?

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tigerweave October 17 2024, 07:15:57 UTC

God no does it soooooooo not at all ROFL! It's one of the things in my life that is an aspect of every single day. I'm in a world where people are not my same background and I can't assume they will be and can't... understand... so much of it.

And yet at the end of the day they seem to feel the same emotions as I do and laugh the same joyful laugh or cry the same hurting tears.

So... Heh, I have kinda, not so much given up trying but given up thinking I CAN every understand someone else's culture and how that has shaped them.

I just keep trying, coz it's amazing how much trying is so powerful at creating connections and a sense of trust and community and security in everyone involved.

Also.... I think one of the hardest bits of the whole shebang is - Where do you draw the line between ok and not ok?

I mean really? An story of a culture and people and what they USED to do and why, is yeah tell your story. Don't expect everyone to see what you do in it but try and explain why you see what YOU see and listen to others when they tell you what ( ... )

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tigerweave October 17 2024, 07:19:33 UTC

Oh I also have a reply to your comment about is that really the only way for them to experience it?

I think they're barking up the wrong tree, personally. I think a lot of abuse happens because people think they can somehow get the other person to give them that sense of aw and wonder. But it's impossible because no matter what happens, that aw is that other persons. They have to feel it for themselves. Not feel someone else's.

And this sounds a bit like that to me. Like oh soz dudes. Ain't gunna work. Maybe try just going and lying under a tree and looking up at the sky. At night even and look up at the stars and just experience it. Got as good a chance if not a lot better, of invoking the aw you so desperately sound like you need!

:-D

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