No. 71
"As soon as I hear a name I feel convinced I can guess what the owner looks like, but it never happens, when I actually meet the man, that his face is as I had supposed. I wonder if everybody shares my experience of feeling, when I hear some story about the past, that the house mentioned in the story must hare been rather like this or that house belonging to people of today, or that the persons of the story resemble people I see now. It has happened on various occasions too that I have felt, just after someone has said something or I have see something or thought of something, that it has occurred before. I cannot remember when it was, but I feel absolutely certain the thing has happened. Am I the only one has such impressions?"
-- Kenko --
from Essays in Idleness
Donald Keene, trans.
I think I am more text-oriented than visually-oriented, for I really don't attach a face to a name upon hearing it. In fact, I am more likely to do this when I hear a voice on the radio or a phone. And, seldom do I "see" a place that I think is just like a place that I already know, except in a very general sense. There are exceptions, of course, but they are rare.
However, I do have the the deja vu experience occasionally, which is quite common as I think that most people I know have had this happen to them one or more times. It's quite uncanny when it does, for I can never figure out when it may have happened and in some cases, it even appears to be impossible to have occurred.
You?
i can't trust my memory at all. time and time again i've had the experience of remembering a scenario with absolutely total recall, only to find out later that i was absolutely totally wrong. that's one of the happenings that made me a zen convert: well, that plus some rather interesting realizations which i shouldn't go into. anyway, i've had deja vu experiences also, and even, when i was young, some rather scary prescient experiences. as i like to say, the brain has a mind of it's own...
ReplyDeleteMudpuddle,
DeleteIn spite of many experiences to the contrary, I still insist my memory is trustworthy, at least when I'm in a discussion with others.
It's afterwards that the doubts arise. (sigh)
haha. sounds familiar. i put it down to too much socialization; in other words, if i don't talk, it doesn't happen... i think i get carried away by enthusiasm and the desire to be right, or to complete a scenario of some sort... i, like others, have convictions that i am driven to support, but i have a tendency to cross the white line without knowing it, so to speak...
DeleteMudpuddle,
Delete"if i don't talk, it doesn't happen."
I don't know how many times I've regretted talking when I should have been satisfied with listening.
We live in illusion
ReplyDeleteAnd the appearance of things.
There is a reality.
We are that reality.
When you understand this,
You will see you are nothing.
And, being nothing,
You are everything.
Kalu Rinpoche
Mudpuddle,
DeleteI tend towards Taoist/Aristotelian realism side of the line--rather than Buddhist/Platonic idealism: what's here is real and we must deal with it. Everything else is speculation, as evidenced by the numerous theories and philosophies.
Strive for clarity and gain wisdom.
Strive for wisdom and gain confusion.
Strive for ambiguity and gain followers.
that's good; i'm not a seriously oriented person in any sense of the word; it's just that a long study of zen coupled with a degree in geology and lots of sci fi have contributed to a rather open-ended pov, i guess you'd say, about reality and the universe...
DeleteMudpuddle,
DeleteThat's an interesting mix of influences: zen, geology, and SF
R.T.,
ReplyDeleteWhile those explanations are, as you say, more seductive, I usually go along with the crossed wiring of synapses.
me too
Delete