"We are so much the victims of abstraction ...

[subsuelo]

... that with the Earth in flames we can barely rouse ourselves to wander across the room and look at the thermostat."

- Terence McKenna

[RandomThoughts]

1. heh, I think you have to look at your situation from where you are.

And see if life is getting better the best you can, since the observations of TV, and Internet, and real world do not always seem the same.

[RKP5637]

2. +1, n/t

[Newest Reality]

3. We, so much, and the victims being abstractions, as well

A journey begins when you are able to consider that everything we think, write and speak is an abstraction. In our symbolic world of representations, everything that we consider and manipulate with the mind is always "about" something else. Never are these symbols what they represent.

What is interesting when peering into this interesting dilemma is to consider how easily and naturally we function at one or more levels from what is actual. So, with abstraction being the part and parcel of the human realm, what is really amazing is how we can not notice this and even have an area we quadrant off as "abstractions" when they are merely relatively more so than our usual, everyday symbolizing.

For that matter, we are not alone, as all life forms abstract, biologically, sensory experiences.

One wonders what the impact would be if more people were actually aware of this being the case? The world made of words where humans actually dwell when not called to the concrete by strong and compelling sensual impulses is like water for fish, ubiquitous to us. Pointing it out, (which is not new) would most certainly have an impact on our culture and people. If it were a dominant aspect of our symbol world, much would change, for the better, but also, in some ways, for the worse. It all depends on where you are standing as you watch Pandora's box being opened.

Are you taking this literally? Is it coming across concretely to you? Or is every word and phrase actually figurative and abstract? Yet, in your head ...