[MD] Flying Spagetti Monsters

[Gene M]

> If you want to go around with a bat lodged in your skull, that's your
> business.
> Don't be surprised, however, if people stop and stare at the oddness of
> "the
> one."


Pfft, they'd just be jealous of my enlightement. Or en-darkenment. One or
the other.

> Ignoring the mystical half of my post though:
> > How do you feel about the statement that the conversation with the wood
> is
> > actually a conversation with yourself. Since those are how you represent
> > such things it seems.
>
> I'm always talking to myself, not out loud mind you, but as an inner
> dialogue.
> Only there is no "other" around to hear what I say. Just me talking and
> hearing myself, simultaneously. Very strange. Who is this person that I
> find
> difficult to shut up? Why do I have to go into some kind of weird trance
> to stop
> this big mouth from constantly bending my ear? Please advise.


I do the same thing actually. When I wanna work through an idea, I generally
dialogue with myself, and I get some pretty interesting answers back
sometimes. I consider it a conversation with my subconscious most of the
time, but that's really just a convenient mental frame work for me to frame
it in.

That person is whoever you define it as. I often find that when
characterizing and trying to understand the people around me, I often just
end up understanding a different aspect of myself slightly better. External
and internal Realities are different aspects of the same thing. It has no
name as far as I know, but it is the encompassing whole.

If someone talks to driftwood, and answer themselves through it's interface,
is that any worse than you talking directly to yourself? Sure, your way is
probably more efficient, but an outside object can often offer a unique
insight into a new directionof thought and dialogue. That is why I read
philosophical texts, to open my mind to new areas it can then explore at
it's own leisure.

I think it's all leading the same place, even if it takes different paths.
Reminds me of the narrator's talk in ZMM about the high places of the mind
while climbing the mountain.

As long as you talk about beauty, I relate. When you talk about driftwood
> talking, even metaphorically, I don't relate. That's a difference between
> us. Just as it's nice to think of everything being one, it's just as nice
> to think of everything being unique and different.
>

I think Beauty is something everyone here can relate to. And even though we
may all find it in different places, it is all the same thing. Quality.
Driftwood can be beautiful, and the things it can tell us about ourselves
can be beautiful too.

Synthesize and Divide, like Case always says, are the two mods of human
operation. Each person seems to prefer one over the other, but the best
seems to be the unison of both to me. But I'm sure that is my personal joy.

Every road may lead to Rome, but in this case I'd be ready to say "All paths
lead to Quality."

-Gene