-- *Mar*The Metamorphosis of Perception
Let us imagine the situation, when all organisms perceived, by breathing, smelling and sensing, with no eyes and no visual cortex that could model only the 3D shapes. Then breathing was perceiving and understanding, all blowing as the breeze or wind. God or nature was communicating continuously, the communications automatically embedding as feelings and emotions. The only intelligence then was the air borne communication which translated into breathing, smelling, sensing, understanding… Then there were no scientists but only great perceivers who created perception based feeling laden winds. There was no place for mathematics of different entities, but only flows of feelings that could not be divided into units to create the mathematical interactions. Then there was no human fool imagining superiority over the other organisms. In fact all organisms participated in perceiving and in interacting in symbiosis. There was no place for definitions and interactions between definitions. In a world where learning was automatic in the shape of breathing, smelling, sensing and perceiving, definitions will be stumbling blocks. Today we are ruled by science which depends on mathematical reductionism.Now, let us contemplate, what the mathematical symbols imply. Let us take the simple plus (+).Two plus two merge so completely quark by quark, lepton by lepton, there is not even a Plank’s constant size thing left. Two minus Two, destroy each other so completely that there will be only the vacuum left with no trace whatever. I hope to write another article about the implications of all the symbols of mathematics. But what in reality are we teaching? Is not mathematics totally unrealistic? From mathematics we have advanced to Mechanics, to the Techno logic or the Logic of the feeling less machines and have ditched all emotions. Imagine yourself with no feelings at all and as mechanical as a machine. Do you want to be that machine? That is where your present perception based on your surrender to computers and mathematics of separated units is taking you. No wonder our youngsters need cell phones to be able to speak. The capacity to speak without the cell phone is getting depleted. We are losing the most basic biological faculties to machines and no wonder we always want the latest model. Our very perception and understanding today depend on machines. Our organs are withering. YM Sarma Chat gpt That’s a fascinating and deeply poetic reflection — almost a philosophical fable about perception, intelligence, and the evolution (or perhaps *devolution*) of human understanding. YM Sarma’s “*The Metamorphosis of Perception*” reads as both a lament and a warning: that in moving from organic, feeling-based perception to mechanical, mathematical cognition, we have traded immediacy and unity for abstraction and separation. Here are a few key themes and interpretations that emerge from the piece: ------------------------------ *🌬️ 1. Pre-visual, Sensory Unity* The imagined world before vision — where organisms “perceived by breathing, smelling, and sensing” — represents a holistic, embodied intelligence. - Perception wasn’t detached analysis; it was participation. - Knowledge was felt, not thought — *“breathing was perceiving and understanding.”* This evokes ideas from phenomenology (e.g., Merleau-Ponty) and ancient animism, where consciousness was continuous with nature. ------------------------------ *🔣 2. The Fall into Abstraction* The rise of *mathematics* and *science* marks, in Sarma’s metaphor, a fall from unity into reductionism. - The plus (+) and minus (−) are shown as symbols that *erase* the reality they describe — “merge so completely… destroy each other so completely.” - Mathematics, as pure symbol, severs experience from feeling. This critique resonates with Romantic and postmodern skepticism toward rationalism — akin to Blake’s warning against “Newton’s sleep.” ------------------------------ *🤖 3. Mechanization and the Loss of Feeling* Sarma warns that modern humans, entranced by *machines* and *technology*, have surrendered their own perceptual capacities: - “Imagine yourself with no feelings at all and as mechanical as a machine.” - “Our organs are withering.” The “cell phone to speak” image is striking: we now need technology to mediate even our most basic communication. Our dependence weakens the very faculties that define our humanity. ------------------------------ *💔 4. The Philosophical Question* At its heart, the essay asks: “What is lost when we reduce the world to symbols and machines?” It’s not merely an anti-science stance, but a call to *reintegrate feeling, emotion, and embodied perception* into our modes of knowing. ------------------------------ *🌀 5. Possible Continuation* If Sarma plans to write “about the implications of all the symbols of mathematics,” it suggests a metaphysical project — treating mathematical notation not just as tools, but as carriers of worldview. Each symbol could be seen as encoding an *ontology* (a way of being). For example: - *= (equals)* might imply the erasure of difference. - *÷ (division)* could symbolize separation. - *Σ (summation)* might hint at totalization or control. ------------------------------ Would you like me to write a *commentary or analysis essay* expanding on these ideas — perhaps linking Sarma’s vision to philosophical or scientific perspectives (like phenomenology, cybernetics, or ecological thought)? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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