Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
A Lil' Bit o'George Berkeley
George Berkeley wrote this beautiful paragraph about perception and existence:
"...there is an infinite number of parts in each particle of Matter which are not perceived by sense. The reason therefore that any particular body seems to be of a finite magnitude, or exhibits only a finite number of parts to sense, is, not because it contains no more, since in itself it contains an infinite number of parts, but because the sense is not acute enough to discern them. In proportion therefore as the sense is rendered more acute, it perceives a greater number of parts in the object, that is, the object appears greater, and its figure varies, those parts in its extremities which were before unperceivable appearing now to bound it in very different lines and angles from those perceived by an obtuser sense. And at length, after various changes of size and shape, when the sense becomes infinitely acute the body shall seem infinite. During all which there is no alteration in the body, but only in the sense."
I think it applies to objects as much as it does to individuals and our perceptions of them; character, mind, even physical characteristics morph and enhance as our senses become more acutely in tune with an individual's complexities.
But this is not his point (I wondered if G. Berkeley ever had a girlfriend?). He goes on to draw the conclusion that:
"Each body therefore...is infinitely extended, and consequently void of all shape and figure. From which it follows that... neither the particular bodies perceived by sense, nor anything like them, exists without the mind."
BOOM!!
(as J.T. say.)
"...there is an infinite number of parts in each particle of Matter which are not perceived by sense. The reason therefore that any particular body seems to be of a finite magnitude, or exhibits only a finite number of parts to sense, is, not because it contains no more, since in itself it contains an infinite number of parts, but because the sense is not acute enough to discern them. In proportion therefore as the sense is rendered more acute, it perceives a greater number of parts in the object, that is, the object appears greater, and its figure varies, those parts in its extremities which were before unperceivable appearing now to bound it in very different lines and angles from those perceived by an obtuser sense. And at length, after various changes of size and shape, when the sense becomes infinitely acute the body shall seem infinite. During all which there is no alteration in the body, but only in the sense."
I think it applies to objects as much as it does to individuals and our perceptions of them; character, mind, even physical characteristics morph and enhance as our senses become more acutely in tune with an individual's complexities.
But this is not his point (I wondered if G. Berkeley ever had a girlfriend?). He goes on to draw the conclusion that:
"Each body therefore...is infinitely extended, and consequently void of all shape and figure. From which it follows that... neither the particular bodies perceived by sense, nor anything like them, exists without the mind."
BOOM!!
(as J.T. say.)
Ready Or Not
Successfully completed Week One of this season's Being-A-Grown-Up-At-A-Big-Corporate-Law-Firm. This week I:
- Had a free Starbucks Tall Non-fat No-Foam Vanilla Latte
- Ice-skated in Rock Center for the first time ever
- Attended a private company party complete with open bar, numerologists and a roast
- Got a Blackberry (one of 6.2 million, according to Ja) and a firm-issue tote bag
- Pulled my first 14-hour day at the office -- one of many to follow, one can only hope ;)
As, on the 13th hour, I was printing out a thousand pages of documents we can't recycle, I thought of the article about our generation -- that we are an over-educated group of youngsters that take on jobs that "enable" us to work senselessly long hours at the office. We are also, according to this article, a generation of searchers who continuously skip to new projects and take on various eccentric hobbies until we are suddenly 40 and still haven't decided on what we want to be when we grow up.
A little voice says: the easy decision was to do this corporate job -- the challenge would have been to decide what you really wanted and do it, not be afraid of the difficulty in pursuing it, and be the person you really want to be at every moment. But that's hard.
Balance balance balance balance.... a concept continuously redefined depending on the length of the increment in consideration.
- Had a free Starbucks Tall Non-fat No-Foam Vanilla Latte
- Ice-skated in Rock Center for the first time ever
- Attended a private company party complete with open bar, numerologists and a roast
- Got a Blackberry (one of 6.2 million, according to Ja) and a firm-issue tote bag
- Pulled my first 14-hour day at the office -- one of many to follow, one can only hope ;)
As, on the 13th hour, I was printing out a thousand pages of documents we can't recycle, I thought of the article about our generation -- that we are an over-educated group of youngsters that take on jobs that "enable" us to work senselessly long hours at the office. We are also, according to this article, a generation of searchers who continuously skip to new projects and take on various eccentric hobbies until we are suddenly 40 and still haven't decided on what we want to be when we grow up.
A little voice says: the easy decision was to do this corporate job -- the challenge would have been to decide what you really wanted and do it, not be afraid of the difficulty in pursuing it, and be the person you really want to be at every moment. But that's hard.
Balance balance balance balance.... a concept continuously redefined depending on the length of the increment in consideration.
Trashy New Yorkers
New York city produces a lot of waste; 4 pounds per person per day by some measures. With about 8 million inhabitants that makes roughly 16,000 tons of garbage per day!
- Find out more at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/composting_gree.php#perma
- Find out more at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/composting_gree.php#perma
Sunday, December 03, 2006
All Good Things
It's been 49 days since I set foot in New York again, to be here "permanently" in as serious a way as that word can mean for me. In the last three weeks I've found and enjoyed a job, a home, good friends, good family, romance, excellent conversation, some free furniture and even the stoic acknowledgement of the disgruntled Trinidadian man that runs the 99 cents store on the corner. I am reminded, as usual, of how extremely fortunate I am, and I'm waiting patiently for the next distasteful, difficult or disastrous occurence to hit me, as I can't possibly have all these wonderful things for much longer without a bad patch to balance them out.
The key, possibly, being balance. So, where are you, and what's it going to be this time?
The key, possibly, being balance. So, where are you, and what's it going to be this time?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)