BSO

BSO

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Dreaming



In downtown Northampton yesterday I saw that the antique gate to the courthouse was closed. I don't recall ever seeing that before. It annoyed me to have to walk around instead of cutting through Coolidge Park. 





Last night I had a dream that there were fences set up all over downtown and I ran around breaking them open with karate kicks. Soon a whole crowd was following me and cheering as I smashed each barrier. Sheesh, even in my dreams I have to be the hero and the center of attention!

What are dreams anyway? From a purely scientific perspective they are fantasy scenarios the mind creates to entertain itself during "downloading" time, or as we usually refer to it, "sleep." The reason we sleep is because we need to turn off our minds so that we can process the information we've absorbed during the day. While that processing is going on, random stuff floats through our consciousness which we call "dreams." Dreams are often related to what the information is that we are processing, especially any novel or unexpected things that happened that day, such as me encountering the closed gate.

You might say that our minds going to sleep is similar to computers in that they need to be off-line while downloading new software, but that would be getting it backwards. Our minds are not like computers, instead computers are like our minds - because it was our minds that created them. All technology is an attempt to extend our biological capabilities - cars are extensions of our legs, television an extenstion of our eyes and ears, computers extensions of our minds, etc.

We make everything in our own image, including the Gods we worship, which is why we have such a hard time connecting with God. We say we are made in God's image, but it's usually the other way around - we like to imagine that God is just like us. Instead of searching for God we go looking for a mirror. Then we wonder why our religions are unsatisfying and we feel so alienated from the cosmos.

In other fence related news, on the woodland way into downtown this morning I saw that a dead tree came crashing down and smashed this fence!






Here's the noble local Indian Metawampe overlooking the deserted UMass campus this morning. 

 



But not deserted for long. The students will be returning next week.



Political Porn

Another picture of Sarah Palin's grandaughter's daddy Levi Johnston:

 



Today's Music Video

This is too good.

 



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That Tennessee Chris Brown satire is a riot!