Comments | thatmikeguy: iotas and eternity

thatmikeguy

iotas and eternity

Dec 29, 2004 23:31

One and the same in the end? One of the most difficult realities is the concept of the infinite. It simply doesn't work with my perception. I am spatially and chronologically based, everything measured in fixed distances and times. My concept of existence is always defined in those terms. To accept that there is no beginning or end, for myself ( Read more... )

Comments 16

athenah2so4 December 30 2004, 18:36:55 UTC

It sounds like you operate on a somewhat similar system as I do. I am one of the very few people I know who doesn't really label people except when necessary in communication with others. I view each person (including animals), thing, plant, bacterium &etc. as infinite and therefore not something that can be pinned down in just a few words. Also, since I don't believe in the self as a thing but as a dynamic process at a given point in the abyss, I just can't imagine trying to pin that down. All I can label is what is communicated to me by word, action, or in some cases ways that I don't understand. What I see of a person is only a small portion of the universe that is both within them and surrounding them, and is both personal and ultimately communal. I think that being raised by amateur philosophers and theologans, one of whom is a zen animist and the other a taoist, has been a big help in my developing this particular viewpoint.

damn, thatmikeguy December 30 2004, 21:44:31 UTC

you were up later than me ( ... )

Re: damn, athenah2so4 December 30 2004, 22:03:28 UTC

Yeah...it's really hard to deeply integrate the kind of concepts that I somewhat have...I'm still no expert at it, and I was raised to view things that way. When I get it just right, it's almost physically dizzying...that whole existentialist thing of ontological giddiness in the face of the abyss...zen and existentialism have a whole lot in common.

This should be turned into a book...the Mike and Athena dialogues...this is my shortest reply so far. :)

contact sadiejones December 30 2004, 20:59:29 UTC

the thing that is lacking for me in the ideas of your last two posts is contact. you can be secure in your perception of someone and your conceptual relationship with them- past or present. but the fact that i will never get to hug my grandfather again, or hold his hand, or watch his reaction to what i am saying, or even hear his voice.... that is a loss. that is a void that nothing in my life will ever fill again. i can take comfort in knowing that i am a different and better person because i was lucky enough to have such a great man in my life, and lucky enough to be in *contact* with him for 24 years.... but the loss and sadness of never being able to experience that again as a result of his death is still overwhelming, no matter how much he exists conceptually for me.

it has been interesting, and i have to admit ovewhelming, to read all of your words of the past few days.

thank you

Re: contact thatmikeguy December 30 2004, 21:27:47 UTC

Certainly true... I think the reality is that different people work in different ways. I am definitely not expecting that anyone else works like me... just examining my way of thinking. I have definitely thought a lot about your situation while contemplating this, but mostly as a comparative way of thinking about it. I just think I work differently and react to different things. I would never expect you or anyone else to feel that way or behave that way with regard to the loss or relationships in general. I actually specifically re-wrote a lot of this to say "I" instead of "we" as I have a tendency to write in philosophy speak, which likes to make sweeping statements about humanity ( ... )

Re: contact sadiejones January 3 2005, 19:05:11 UTC

as i said- it was lacking for ME in the posts- i have definitely learned that you and i need different things. i think it is good you are examining, and good that you are saying "i", makes it easier to understand and absorb, for ME at least.

Re: contact thatmikeguy January 3 2005, 19:57:20 UTC

See... I was working hard at trying not to impose my thoughts onto others, and was still reading with the assumption that others were doing it. Clever and ironic ;)

subadabub? zero42 December 31 2004, 05:28:42 UTC

quick note to everyone: i copy & paste mike's entries into text-aloud and it reads them to me: http://www.nextup.com/

mike, hiya! it's so damn refreshing to hear someone else who thinks; like i do. there are so many people in glass wheelchairs or on shadow crutches that i sometimes forget silence doesn't have to be thick... um, before i write a mile, let me get to the point: check out the lj for delstar (it's one of mine) - especially 'love like breathing' and let me know if you'd be interested in recording this entry on a micro-cassette or wave file - so i can press it to lp and build music into/around/with/because of it. (also ref: 'audio' on ntzrplk.com)

hey, hit me back via eMail when you get a chance.

take care - if no one gives you any.

until i'm not,
¤Johnallan

Re: subadabub? zero42 December 31 2004, 06:24:16 UTC

i just finished listening to the comments on the death entry and would like to extend the above entry to each of you.

Re: subadabub? thatmikeguy December 31 2004, 19:00:01 UTC

HAH! I just listened to that back through the text reader. If I use the male voice I feel like I'm Stephen Hawking, and if I use the female it feels like I'm the voice from ghost in the shell ;)

I'm complimented that you liked (or even made it through ;) ) the entries. I'd love it if you used them for some backing... love to hear it when you get done too.

I'll be in the airport for a few today, so I'll try to check out your links.

Re: subadabub? thatmikeguy December 31 2004, 19:01:09 UTC

p.s. I'll send you an e-mail once I get back to SF.

slutbunwalla December 31 2004, 14:13:22 UTC

yeah, I can dig it ( ... )

Speige! thatmikeguy December 31 2004, 19:06:44 UTC

That's awesome :) I would guess that it would have to be a pretty neutral tone with variance toward either red or blue based on the age of the universe. But that's because I'm a geek ;)

Yeah, the reality that all of our ideas are based on passed on mental constructs makes it even more contorted. If I can manage to keep typing entries, I will probably delve into that at some point. Of course, I'm returning to real life now, so it seems unlikely.

Your brother sounds like my brother. He used to pull that kind of sheit all the time (making up weird ways to deal with things). I love the concept that someone would cry due to the mental impact of 'infinity' :)

Fuck it. joymattingly January 13 2005, 05:10:46 UTC

You said you were going to write about cookies!! I've been tricked into reading all your philosophical fluff because *you* promised cookies ( ... )

Re: Fuck it. thatmikeguy January 13 2005, 06:16:58 UTC

you just made me cry. I needed that at the moment... a lot.

:)

I carry you around as well... one of the main reasons being that you are one of the only people in my life that has looked at me and talked to me in a way that made me know that you were actually aware of me in a real way. I'm not sure how to explain it other than that. I'm sure it ties into everything in this entry, but I'll avoid that long of a response ;) It is just a sense, but it's a part of that conceptual contact that is always there when I think of you. It's an ability that seems beyond measure, and I think you do it with everything in your life.

Next time I will write about cookies :)

... I would love to know where the quote came from.

Re: Fuck it. joymattingly January 13 2005, 13:45:23 UTC

ohhh puddin'. . . . you're making me cry too. . . . aren't we a pair?

you are one of the only people in my life that has looked at me and talked to me in a way that made me know that you were actually aware of me in a real way. My Amusing Thought #1-- My first thought to this was. . . . I learned this 3 states back, meaning your 3 states and not mine-- NC, WA, and CO. It's funny, in that not really funny way, that this was my immediate reaction. And what piles even more ironic circular-ness on top of all this is that. . . . I'm getting stretchy here, so bear with me. . . . I learned this (to treat you in a real way) here in LJ. I precisely remember posts/replies where I realized that you weren't exactly the Murray Version of Mike anymore and you realized the same of me. I remember when you raged against the "Angel" Mike perception folks had of you. I remember that when that was dissolved into you, well, living your life. . . . for me, to me-- you became eternally dynamic. . . . and the truth of that I have just realized ( ... )