isn't myth a lie? not according to joseph campbell - mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. it is the penultimate truth - penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. it is beyond words, beyond images to what can be known but not told. it becomes a framework for your life experiences. and it is so important to live life with first hand experience, gaining knowledge of its mystery - and your own mystery. this gives life a new radiance, a new harmony, a new splendor.

the big question then becomes are you are going to give a definite 'yes' to your own adventure, and build your own myth? where you are the hero of the story that is your life. where your smallest actions have meaning and consequence to those you pull into your story. thinking of your every day life in mythological terms helps put you in accord with the inevitables of this veil of tears. you learn to recognize positive values in what appear to be negative moments of your life.

when you look back over your life do you want it to show that you were just a second hand ingester of others peoples experience as fed to you thru movies and books? how much more satisfying and soul enriching to reach out to those experiences and embrace them. to feel the rich pull of the heady emotions that accompany them. the thrill of conquering the fears of unknown or of failing. or maybe even more difficult, to use sheer force of will to overcome the comfortable numbness that sucks you back on to the couch to be hypnotized by some crappy tv show, when the real thing is just outside your door.

yea, yea, i know. you're tired and you're too busy. won't that make a great epitaph on your tombstone "i was too tired and busy to take the few steps that i needed to fully enjoy my life". we are only given access to so many sunsets in this life, and they look a helluva lot better in real life than they do on a screen or described in a book.

posted by bluematrix at 11/22/07 23:57 | link | comments (1)

'It doesn't matter who my father was - it matters who i remember he was.' - Anne Sexton

been thinking about my memory (or lack thereof) lately. memory is not just a handy tool helping you remember where you left your car parked. the fact that from moment to moment you have a stable sense of identity and that the same person who went to bed last nite is the same one who wakes up in the morning is what allows you to be a person. without memory you are not you. even societies share a collective memory in order to exist.

as we go thru life we and accumulate more and more memories, we become experienced - very valuable in that we don't have to solve problems over and over again. young people have quicker and more active intelligence but are often out-thought by older people with experiences giving them the advantage. but a younger mind will usually win if the problem is completely new, which is why the young usually smoke the old at new technology.

there are basically three kinds of distinct types of memory classes - sensory, short-term, and long term. the ability to look at an item, and remember what it looked like with just a second of observation, or memorization, is an example of sensory memory. short-term memory allows one to recall something from several seconds to as long as a minute without rehearsal. long-term memory can store much larger quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration.

the key to a good memory is good encoding of the shtuff that goes in. if you haven't given yourself good memory clues as the info goes in, it is much harder to retrieve it later. this is what most books on improving your memory focus on. and one of the best ways to encode is to realize that association is the foundation of how we think as well as how we remember. have you ever smelled something and had it trigger a memory? or heard a song that takes you instantly back somewhere else? this is association. you say 'bread' and i 'butter'. i think about butter and thoughts start popping up about about taste, color, milk, cows, and a whole microcosm of linked associations, some strong and some weak. we memorize by fitting things into our previously built networks of information.

memories shift and change as new information comes in. perspectives and opinions change. memories are not cast in stone, they are written in sand. but we can follow those tracks in the sand. and since the more you say, the less people remember, i'll leave the rest of my thoughts about memory for a later time.

posted by bluematrix at 11/14/07 22:35 | link | comments (1)

this morning i woke up around 5am and was contemplating whether or not to get out of bed. our younger cat, fiona, jumped up on the bed and began to purr near my feet - i don't mind animals in the bed as long as they are not jumping on me waking me up. fi decided that she wanted to get closer and came up near my head and since i was leaning towards getting out of bed i let her get close - her purring was as loud as the alarm clock the was going to go off in an hour. and then she did something no cat i've ever had did. she began to give the back of my head a good grooming. i've had the occassional lick on the arm here and there before both species realized it wasn't going, but this was a full fledged, methodical bath. it was even more odd because fi has always been a bit standoffish, prefering the company of the other cat to humans.

as i lay there, one part of me thought it was kinda gross. but another part of me was touched by this full acceptance of me (after a year and half) as part of her clan and her way of conveying this. as i was showering just now (getting the spots fiona missed), i reflected on this act of service to others and the importance of showing signs of acceptance to those in our lives. these themes keep arising more and more these days and reassure me that my decision this year to do a major career change is the right one.

being a graphic artist, while pretty cool, is a very solitary and rather self centered endeavour. while there is interaction with others (clients, photographers, illustrators) its really about my battle with a blank piece of paper, or rather, a white page on a computer screen. but being an educator/trainer is about serving others and about giving encouragement and accepting different styles of learners. this focus from self to others is not the easiest thing, nor are the monetary challenges that come with changing careers. but it feels right.

so my action item for you today is...go out and give some one a good licking.

posted by bluematrix at 11/08/07 07:09 | link | comments (2)