Old arrogance
Nov. 15th, 2005 02:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lhexa"I've been visiting relatives, so that's why I haven't been here. Anyway, two nights ago I decided to ride my bicycle at night through the city, and found it to be... amazing. It was like I was entering the darker parts of human minds, confronting them. I can't really explain what happened with exactness, but I came back with much more knowledge than I left with.
"Here is one vision that came almost spontaneously. I was thinking about what originality is, at the time. This metaphor probably has very little significance for anyone but me, but I want to describe it anyway.
"Knowledge is like a pedestal suspended in a vast ocean, or cloud maybe, of knowledge. The pedestal is what has become common knowledge to this human culture, and the space around it is virtually unknown emotion, sensation, and wisdom. Most humans spend all their time walking on the pedestal, learning what has been commonly learned; and although there are mountains and valleys on the pedestal representing this knowledge, they are small in comparison to the infinity that is not known.
"Most humans walk; but flight is possible as well. When this happens, an individual removes 'emself completely from their foundation of knowledge to find new experience. Maybe others have flown those paths as well, but their knowledge has been lost to all but themselves and a few others, and is not a part of the pedestal. There is no help of any kind from the foundation. 'E is like a star burning through the blue sky of new experience, flying far and high before returning to the foundation to digest the knowledge. But there remains a deep schism between those who have flown and those who do not even know the sky exists, and the latter cannot understand the former or 'es new wisdom.
"While riding the bicycle and thinking strange thoughts I actually felt that I was becoming removed from this world. Consideration for this world became at once easier and less important; I could see that it held little left for me, that flight was the only way to continue learning. I began to intuit patterns that I had never conceived of before. I also have learned a few things about emotion, and how they affect my mind.
"This stuff is very significant to me, though probably not to you, but I plan to ride again this night. 'Til then..."
For context, I wrote that about six years ago, and the specific concept of "flight" that started there has been important ever since.
"Here is one vision that came almost spontaneously. I was thinking about what originality is, at the time. This metaphor probably has very little significance for anyone but me, but I want to describe it anyway.
"Knowledge is like a pedestal suspended in a vast ocean, or cloud maybe, of knowledge. The pedestal is what has become common knowledge to this human culture, and the space around it is virtually unknown emotion, sensation, and wisdom. Most humans spend all their time walking on the pedestal, learning what has been commonly learned; and although there are mountains and valleys on the pedestal representing this knowledge, they are small in comparison to the infinity that is not known.
"Most humans walk; but flight is possible as well. When this happens, an individual removes 'emself completely from their foundation of knowledge to find new experience. Maybe others have flown those paths as well, but their knowledge has been lost to all but themselves and a few others, and is not a part of the pedestal. There is no help of any kind from the foundation. 'E is like a star burning through the blue sky of new experience, flying far and high before returning to the foundation to digest the knowledge. But there remains a deep schism between those who have flown and those who do not even know the sky exists, and the latter cannot understand the former or 'es new wisdom.
"While riding the bicycle and thinking strange thoughts I actually felt that I was becoming removed from this world. Consideration for this world became at once easier and less important; I could see that it held little left for me, that flight was the only way to continue learning. I began to intuit patterns that I had never conceived of before. I also have learned a few things about emotion, and how they affect my mind.
"This stuff is very significant to me, though probably not to you, but I plan to ride again this night. 'Til then..."
For context, I wrote that about six years ago, and the specific concept of "flight" that started there has been important ever since.
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