I think it's quite a nice portrait of a society in "Island" - but the end is interesting. Thinking in terms of MoQ, one could guess that Huxley felt that the society he portrayed wasn't "dynamic" enough. However, he couldn't conceive anything better.
But a came to think of another distinction. It is one thing to be aware that one is perceiving through one's senses. It is another to be aware that one is superimposing interpretations on these sensory data. There is a third thing to be aware that one is none of these: but what would one be without these? Consciousness without experience, wouldn't that be nothing? There is an old metaphor of likening the mind to a house. In the Freudian sense in three floors. To some extent this is confirmed by neurology. First there is the cellar or basement, the second word is somewhat better, because it is also the fundament of the house. Down there is a big heat engine. It's analogous to the "reptilian brain" dominated by the olfactory system and the sympathetic nervous system (=the heat engine). This basement is what keeps the house going. Shut off the engine and everything would stop. The ground floor is dominated by an electric generator, converting energy from the heat engine to electricity which powers machines at the floor, and also makes "light" in the house. This floor is analogous to the basic parts of the cortex and the electric generator equals the limbic system (and the parasympathetic NS) and this part of the CNS dependence on visual sensory data. All production of the house takes place here. Down the basement, the house just consumes and produces wastes. But at the ground floor it can produce other things as well. The upper floor is divided into two parts by a firewall, in which are only a few hatches. This is analogous to the neocortex divided by the corpus callosum. In the one of these parts, is the "employee management" analogous to the right hemisphere. On the other is the "business management" analogous to the left hemisphere. They don't communicate with each other very much. But YOU, your consciousness, is none of these parts. It's rather the "owner" of the house. You could take interest in any, every or no part of the house. But if the different parts don't work well together you have problem. Because you're the one responsible for what's going on, even though everyone in the house is responsible to you. This is, of course, also a simplification, but it works quite well, and it combines the analytic methods of both Freud and Jung. I've been using it for introspective purposes from time to time. Sometimes it is could to conceive of yourself as a "whole", but sometimes as "the sum of parts" and still other times as just a component in the larger social system (the holon concept of A. Koestler again). But can this owner learn something of what he himself is, by watching this house? Can he find means of perceiving himself without perceiving the house? Is he anything else than what he owns? I think this is the "hard thing". *** JUST ADDITIONAL This is a part of the same text as I quoted the other day. The poetic I has made the voice accepting him: but then the voice began to condemn everyone. ***I said: You bade me speak, and you bade me replay, and thus I venture to talk again. I tell you this: You are not God. You are Satan, the Devil. Thats why you talked to me that way. The Scriptures say that the Evil One governs the Earth, but John wrote: We know that we are of God and that the whole world is in the Evil Ones grasp. Be silent, Satan, and go away. Then the voice talked to me again and said: My wrath is flaming towards you. It shall consume you, as it consumes me. Ha! You are my reflection! If you call me Satan, then you are the Devil yourself. You mention the scriptures. Fool! The scriptures also say: as you judge others, so will also you be judged. Ha! Hear me laughing at you. Youve listened, but you couldnt understand. Fool! How do you dare talking to me? You said that John wrote that we know. We know, yes! But we are both you and I. Am I of God, are you of God. I have said that I am like you, but where you are, I am not, and where I am, you are not. The sky mirrors itself in the ocean and the sun in the moon. Its a projection. I AM. You are not. You are a glare, a phantom. Im delirious! Im dreaming! You do not exist. Only I am the one who is. Now I know that you arent me. You are like them, like them who are whoring harlots, who adorn their vain appearance with make-up to hide themselves, though they prostitute themselves in the open; they dont want anyone to see that theyre empty, and are constantly trying to fill themselves full by whoring. Woe to them! Ill smash this mirror to pieces. I cant stand to look at it anymore. Ill be silent, never to talk again. I shall hide in the dark, never to be seen again. They will ask for me, they will call for me, but I will not show up and I will not replay. Fools are what you are. Swine! You are impure. The surface of the mirror is stained with blood and sin. I wanted you to listen, but now you shall ask for me, but I wont replay any more. Fool! That you ventured to deny me! That became your own judgment. When you condemned me, you condemned yourself.*** One of the main ideas of the text, is the sense of isolation, exclusiveness, loneliness and confinement. Both the poetic I and the voice are wrong but for different reasons, so to speak. /A -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- Från: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] För ADRIE KINTZIGER Skickat: den 4 november 2010 11:46 Till: [email protected] Ämne: Re: [MD] Is this the inadequacy of the MOQ? I'm very well aware of the message of the bird. "We should listen to the other voices too", attention,...its not an endless loop. The bird is the voice of our nature,the little direct expirience that remains. Should i listen to the birds call?, Do we need the other voices to speak out the endless loops again?start again with the ad infinitum, so to speak... strange.. hmmm, makes me think. 2010/11/4 Alexander Jarnroth <[email protected]> > The bird says that also, in the novel. But should it be in absurdum ad > infinitum that you should be aware that you are aware that you are > aware that you are aware... and so? > To what should you really pay your attention? It isn't just > intellectual, I think. Also in act for instance. > > /A > > -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- > Från: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] För ADRIE KINTZIGER > Skickat: den 3 november 2010 22:50 > Till: [email protected] > Ämne: Re: [MD] Is this the inadequacy of the MOQ? > > very correct , very fast, yes , "attention" we should pay attention > the bird says, we should listen to the other voices to (contextually > embedded) > Fast and in depth;-faster now ;," -i will pay attention-" > clearly capable of grasping the context. > good , Alexander , really is... > > > 2010/11/3 Alexander Jarnroth <[email protected]> > > > "Here and now, boys. Here and now." > > > > -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- > > Från: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] För ADRIE KINTZIGER > > Skickat: den 3 november 2010 22:14 > > Till: [email protected] > > Ämne: Re: [MD] Is this the inadequacy of the MOQ? > > > > I agree, Andre, and also with DMB, it's total drivel. > > This will kill every progress made earlier on. > > Adrie "attention"- comes from 'island' (huxley) we should pay attention. > > (birds voice) greetz, Adrie > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > > Archives: > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > > > > > > -- > parser > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > -- parser Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
