The World As I See It...

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...The World As I See It, an essay but Albert Einstein...

Inside The Sane Asylum...

"Yep, taking a break today. No post...see you soon" ?
Thanks for dropping by. Check tomorrow, I may have something to say...or not...Doc

From The Road...The Delta Snake Review Series

...it is impossible to think of anything as nonexistent, since our thoughts are always on something that exists, has existed, or could potentially exist.

I remember reading that we all have a picture of ourselves, beneath the other trappings layered on to enhance or hide it, and hearing the argument that it was an overly simplistic idea and didn't account for the complexity of human life...those who think it's simplistic are often the ones with the narrow view.

I saw a guy rummaging through the garbage can this morning. One of the bike and backpack homeless I've seen around...didn't have any money on me, but I wouldn't have approached him anyway.

When a person is scavenging for food like that, he's not calling for help, but it's something that must be hard to do in front of people. I'm sure he knows what it looks like to others, I may not have stood aside like this a year ago, and offered to save him from such degradation with a few bucks, but now, it seems intrusive. I know the look on his face, I've seen it before, if there's food there, then it's something he got himself, past the shame reflex that would all come pouring down if interrupted in the act, like being caught with his pants down in public...I'm not sure it means that he hasn't felt that it hasn't come to begging yet, or that there's still some pride left even if a passerby would think otherwise...I won't judge him either, we all deal with homelessness differently and if he thinks scavenging is better than begging, I assume he's thought it through...

I discreetly watch and study how he operates...most people wouldn't know it but he's quite skilled and has an economy of motion that comes from practice..it looks like a successful night with the can outside of a restaurant and there's plenty of leftovers. I'm not pessimistic about my future but figure that it doesn't hurt to see how it's done...you never know, I could be like that in a few months. I've never known that level of hunger so it's a scene that gets tucked away, a mental note that this can is a good one...

St. Thomas Aquinas described the contemplation of God as the lifelong quest to understand an infinite power, that there would always be mystery and evolution of knowledge looking outwards...to see a picture of oneself isn't like having a cartoon or painting, it's the identity and from there comes outlook and experience. It's about where I've been, where I am now, and where I'm going.

His name is Al Handa...a man without a home, describing the homeless in his Delta Snake Review Blog...a homeless journal of sorts.

Mental Note To Self...

My mind then wanders... I thought of this: I thought of how every day each of us experiences a few little moments that have just a bit more resonance than other moments—we hear a word that sticks in our mind—or maybe we have a small experience that pulls us out of ourselves, if only briefly...
And if we were to collect these small moments in a notebook and save them over a period of months we would see certain trends emerge from our collection—certain voices would emerge that have been trying to speak through us. We would realize that we have been having another life altogether; one we didn’t even know was going on inside us. And maybe this other life is more important than the one we think of as being real—this clunky day-to-day world of furniture and noise and metal. So just maybe it is these small silent moments which are the true story-making events of our lives.

From Inside The Sane Asylum...Rose

That's the crazy ole lady that lives down the street.
When I saw her my heuristic mind made that thought complete.
It was her, the crazy ole lady, she whistles, and sings and dances to her own beat.

Her make up and hair are the talk of the town.
People often stare before they look down.
Children suspect her to be a fairy as they see her floating around.

She lives life in a rainbow, bright colors flow behind.
Laughter and light they come to her from the mind.
Freedom seems to seep from her image, one of a kind.

She remembers who she was and the despair that left her gray.
Could it be the lingering thoughts of one that was ripped away?
Or maybe the dream that he will return someday?

She jingles and tinkles as she walks like a child.
Penny-ridden pockets never keeps her from a smile.
Living out loud so confusing feelings won't hide her style.

I heard her name was Rose.
Got the name from those lips, I suppose?

She's just the ole lady that lives down the street.
Watch... as her mind lives in retreat...

As she passes don't look away.
Respect the mind that gave her this day...Doc

Lemme Think About It...nothing

"the idea that nothing is unknowable is due to our minds being unable to process the thought of it. It is conceivable that nothing could exist; we just cannot imagine it."

Let Me Tell You A Story...James T. Callow's Folklore Archive

THE KILLER

A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, I WAS A WITNESS TO A KILLING.
SO I WENT TO COURT AND THE MURDERER WAS CONVICTED AND
SENTENCED TO DIE IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR. WHEN THE KILLER
WAS LEAVING THE COURTROOM, HE TURNED TO ME AND SAID
"I'LL GET YOU LATER." I THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS KIND OF
FUNNY, 'CAUSE THEY ALL SAY THE SAME THING. A FEW WEEKS
LATER, I SAW IN THE NEWSPAPER THAT HE HAD ESCAPED FROM
THE PRISON, BUT I WASN'T TOO WORRIED, BECAUSE I DIDN'T
THINK HE'D FIND ME. ONE NIGHT THAT WEEK
I WAS WALKING HOME WHEN A CAR PULLED UP
ALONG SIDE OF ME. IT WAS THE KILLER IN THE CAR AND HE
JUMPED OUT AND STARTED TO CHASE ME. I HAD NO WHERE TO GO,
BUT DOWN THIS DARK ALLEY. HE WAS RUNNING JUST BEHIND ME.
THE ALLEY ENDED IN A DEAD-END, SO I STARTED UP A FIRE
ESCAPE, BUT THE KILLER GRABBED ME FROM BEHIND AND PULLED
MY LEGS, JUST LIKE I'M PULLING YOURS!

Nuff Said...coping

How to Cope and Challenging Feelings

Challenging feelings can be extremely difficult, especially when adapting to change or a life transition, in comparison to changing thoughts and beliefs. Feeling states accumulate over a lifetime of experience, and, trying to change a feeling can seem like it is going against everything the person has ever believed in life. They have convinced themselves that what they feel is reasonable and must be a necessary part of life. We all have met someone who is chronically afraid, angry or sad, and characterize them in this way because their constant unpleasant mood states can be observed in most of their actions and behaviors. Negative feelings are the cumulative effects of experiences in life, and, the challenge is to accumulate new positive events to offset the negative. Because it takes time and effort to change these feelings people need to become open to the idea of wanting new, positive experiences and then invite them into their lives. These individuals must give themselves permission to allow these positive experiences to enhance their life. It is possible to change beliefs and thoughts with information and teaching; however, it is hard to change a feeling state without professional assistance. In fact, I once told my psychiatrist that I was hearing voices. He informed me I had no psychiatrist.

Nuff Said Series...beliefs

How to Cope and Challenge Beliefs

Challenging and changing a value or belief can be easier at times. The problem is people have thousands of ideas, and can only change one at a time, making this change a lengthy process. In order to challenge a belief, look at the evidence, examine the facts and then it may be easier for someone to change their mind about the conviction. For instance, some may assume that virgin wool is newly spun wool...when in fact, virgin wool comes from the sheep that run the fastest...

Front Porch Psychology...transitions

"The next levels of me, will demand a different me."

Many people are afraid of change. They prefer routine and stability, and, with any kind of transition this change disrupts self-confidence. Fear inhibits people from taking risks. When fear relates to a positive change, it usually is linked to a fear of not being able to achieve success. Some are overly concerned about not being capable “enough” or of being judged, as if dignity is only measured by their concept of success or winning.

Fear alerts us to danger. If people want to be able to cope well, they need to be open to the challenge of changing and questioning their thoughts, feelings and beliefs that they have in life. One way to confront an illogical fear is to pretend that the worse scenario happened and then backtrack in the mind to logically solve the problem. Even though, this technique is a fantasy, you are learning a new way to problem-solve.

One inevitable transition in life is associated with maturity or growing older, and this change usually brings with it an isolated sensation linked to a sense of loss to what was once in the past. With each passage people must learn new ways of adapting, and facing this new way of being in the world can be anxiety provoking because it tests our competence. To cope well with life, people will need to be open and at peace with questioning thoughts, feelings and beliefs about the world in which they live.

From The Road Series...the ghosts of N'awlins

The Ghosts of N'awlins

It felt as though the humidity itself
carried a hint of liquor as we walked
out into the night, wanting only to escape
our lives for a little.
Deep down in Vieux Carre’
twisted brass clashed with a piano
running half step from the crowded clubs
on Frenchman Street.
We filled our lungs with the city
and found her to be like certain kinds
of dangerous doses--
intoxicating.

The more we drank
the more I began to see glimpses
of the specters spoken of by locals.
They linger in my peripheral,
watching me with their sunken eyes.
You could faintly hear them moan,
only in defeated tones
and their collective scowl danced
in the heavy air of summer
as though it were a part from
all that jazz.

In the stranger hours of morn
I was approached by a ghost
a few blocks off Bourbon.
He offered up nothing but his dirty palms
in hopes of some false salvation.
I wrestled a dollar from my pocket
and passed it on to him,
only to watch him fruitlessly grasp at it
before it slide through his ghostly hands
to the ground below.
He looked down at the dollar
all helpless-like and he said
"It’s been slipping through my fingers
like dat for years now"

I walked from him, realizing then
why I had needed this trip,
because the only difference between
me and the ghosts of N'awlins
Was where I've been...

 Thanks Jonathan Potts for the inspiration...

Pick one...they all work!

Welcome your daily visitors...

I posted this one in the early infancy of The Sane Asylum. Think about it on occasions, especially when I find my self in a mood change. We all have them, hell I have three or four different moods a day. There are a few of mine that you may not want to see. What an ass I can be. Like my good friend Jess once said, "never fly off the handle when your full of shit." Well I do and then move on to the next stranger that strolls through my mind. Funny thing, they all do work. Some days it's like a theme park in my head. I know you think bull shit comes from bulls but encounter one of my bat shit raving spells and you will know you are wrong. Make no mistake, I always say what I mean, I just may not mean to say it out loud. Some days I just need to wear a sign, "don't upset me, I'm running out of places to hide the bodies." I recall a gift from my staff on my 50th birthday. It was a t shirt, on one side it read "therapy in progress..." the other side read "do not disturb any further." I need to find that shirt.

There are some days I wake up and say, "Life, I am finally happy today." Then life says, "Oh no we can't have that, let me throw in some misery and suffering." Wouldn't it be much easier if life just sent you a text saying, "today is going to suck." Some days every damn sad song you hear, you think they wrote the lyrics just for you. That sucks! As you get older there is a strange feeling that comes over you once in a while. It is that feeling you thought you forgot. Now that really sucks.

Let me ask you something...do you ever get tired of chasing your dreams? Well if you do, just ask them where they are going and catch up with them later. Life is really a grand adventure. Never easy, so we enroll in meditation classes that teach you how to breathe. Imagine that. Or go green, or buy you a yoga suit and mat, or maybe just get up each day and try to be the best person you can be. Knowing you may fall short at times but then there are other times that remind you of the beauty of humanity.

And there are those people in your life that think they know how you should act
 and be. Those you would like to say, "I didn't know you were an expert on running my life. Keep talking and let me take notes." It's your life. It will be over way to soon. Life is not easy, but I promise, it's worth it. Was it a line from Steel Magnolias? I think it was..."I'm not crazy, I've just been in a very bad mood forty years." Smile, sense beauty in all things, express gratitude, and experience forgiveness...Doc

The Human Conservancy...field office

"My greatest fear is not that I will have no one to care for me,
but I will have no one to care for."

I asked her about loss...

From Inside The Sane Asylum

So, to answer your question, when you try to tickle yourself, your cerebellum, which monitors your movements, basically calls off the whole tickle response system by letting it know the sensation it’s about to pick up is actually just you trying to make yourself laugh. Your not really going to try this are you?

Dr I. B. Thinking
Linguistic Medicine Man
The Sane Asylum

From The Farside Of The Glass...loneliness

The Innovation of Loneliness.

Could this world of social media and our ever expanding ‘friend’ circles may actually be making us more lonely? Could it be that being in control of the image we project of ourselves to others online, we aren’t being true to ourselves, thus making us feel more alone?

With the ability to edit, re-think and delete what we have said or posted, we craft our own image, paragraphs of text reformed and photos depicting only what we want people to see. We gather online friends like stamps and quantity has overtaken quality, with face to face interaction being minimized year by year. Could it be we are sacrificing conversation for connection?

Lemme Think About It...crazy

"Of all the poop in the world, who decided bat shit was the craziest?"

Jes B Rambling's Hallelujah Caravan...The Moral Of The Story

Jes...ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A MAMA HORSEFLY, A PAPA HORSE-
FLY, AND A LITTLE BABY HORSEFLY. IT WAS NEARING SUPPERTIME,
AND THE FAMILY WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO EAT. AT THAT
MOMENT, THEY SPOTTED A FARM WITH HUNDREDS OF COWS IN THE
FIELD. THEY IMMEDIATELY FLEW INTO THE BRN, AND, BEHOLD!
IT WAS FILLED WITH TONS OF COW MANURE. THE HORSEFLIES
IMMEDIATELY STARTED EATING, AND THEY ATE AND ATE AND ATE
UNTIL THEY WERE SO FULL, THEY COULD NOT FLY AWAY. THEY HAD
TO GET OUT OF THE BARN BEFORE THE COWS CAME BACK, SO THE PAPA
HORSEFLY, SEEING A PITCHFORK STUCK INTO THE MAURE, SAID HE
WOULD CLIMB UP THE HANDLE AND TRY TO FLY AWAY FOR HELP.
HE CLIMBED UP THE HANDLE AND TRIED TO FLY AWAY, BUT HE WAS
SO HEAVY FROM EATING ALL THE COW MANURE, HE FELL DOWN AND
BROKE HIS NECK. THE MAMA HORSEFLY, WANTING TO SAVE HER
BABY, TRIED NEXT. BUT AFTER CLIMBING THE HANDLE AND TRYING
TO FLY AWAY, ALSO FELL DOWN AND BROKE HER NECK. THERE WAS
NOTHING FOR THE BABY HORSEFLY TO DO BUT TRY TO MAKE THE
ATTEMPT HIMSELF. BUT LIKE HIS MOTHER AND FATHER, HE WAS
SO FULL OF MANURE, HE FELL OFF THE HANDLE OF THE PITCH-
FORK AND BROKE HIS NECK. 

(PAUSE) 

Jes...DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS?
 DON'T FLY OFF THE HANDLE WHEN YOU'RE FULL OF SHIT.

Made Me Grin Series...a punny

THERE WAS AN INDIAN CHIEF NAMED SHORTCAKE. THE CHIEf WAS A BACHELOR, AND ONE DAY HE DECIDED TO GET MARRIED.
WELL, HE GOT MARRIED AND DIED ON HIS WEDDING NIGHT.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THEN? SQUAW BURY SHORTCAKE....just punny. A little nonsense just went off in my brain...I will get better...sorry...:) Doc

Let Me Tell You A Story...James T. Callow's Folklore Archive

THE VIPER

ONE NIGHT A WOMAN WAS HOME ALL ALONE AND THE PHONE RANG.
SHE ANSWERED IT, AND A VERY WEIRD VOICE SAID, "I'M
THE VIPER AND I'M COMING TO YOUR HOUSE. I'M 3 MILES AWAY."
THE WOMAN WAS VERY FRIGHTENED, BUT NO ONE WOULD BELIEVE HER
ABOUT THIS PHONE CALL. THE NEXT NIGHT SHE ANSWERED THE
PHONE AGAIN AND THE SAME VOICE SAID, "I'M THE VIPER AND I'M
COMING TO YOUR HOUSE. I'M 2 MILES AWAY." AGAIN, NO ONE
BELIEVED HER. THE NEXT NIGHT HE CALLED AGAIN, AND SAID
"I'M THE VIPER AND I'M COMING TO YOUR HOUSE. I'M 1 MILE
AWAY. I'LL BE THERE TOMORROW." STILL NO ONE BELIEVED
HER. THE NEXT MORNING THERE WAS A TERRIBLE KNOCKING AT
THE DOOR. HER CURIOSITY OVERWHELMED HER AND SHE OPENED
THE DOOR. THERE STOOD A MAN WHO SAID, "I'M THE VINDA
VIPER, AND I COME TO VIPE YOUR VINDOWS."

Discovering Ourselves...wondering

I have no doubt that our thinking goes on for the most part without use of signs (words) and beyond that to a considerable degree unconsciously. For how, otherwise, should it happen that we sometimes “wonder” quite spontaneously about some experience? This “wondering” appears to occur when an experience comes into conflict with a world of concepts already sufficiently fixed within us. Whenever such a conflict is experienced sharply and intensely it reacts back upon our world of thought in a decisive way. The development of this world of thought is in a certain sense a continuous flight from “wonder.” 

A wonder of this kind I experienced as a child of four or five years when my father showed me a compass. That this needle behaved in such a determined way did not at all fit in the kind of occurrences that could find a place in the unconscious world of concepts (efficacy produced by direct “touch”). I can still remember — or at least believe I can remember — that this experience made a deep and lasting impression upon me. Something deeply hidden had to be behind things. AE

Stopped To Ponder...silence

In that moment, he learns what we so easily forget: that silence is not the absence of sound but the presence of an inward-listening awareness, an attunement of the mind’s ear and an orientation of the spirit toward a certain inner stillness — perhaps the positive counterpoint to loneliness, which so often thrives amid the crowd.

Lemme Think About It...to pretend

To pretend, I actually do the thing: " I have therefore only pretended to pretend."

From The Study...a conversation about possibility...consciousness of guilt

Consciousness of guilt...

In the first volume of The Death Penalty, Derrida considers the jus talionis, the principle of equivalence according to which a relation is set up ‘between the crime and the punishment, between the injury and the price to be paid’. Debt, in On the Genealogy of Morals, gives Nietzsche a way of understanding how ‘the “consciousness of guilt”, “bad conscience”’ came into the world. Earlier he laments ‘that whole sombre thing called reflection’, in which the self becomes its own object of relentless scrutiny and self-punishment. If one wants to keep a promise, one must burn memory into the will, submit to – or submit oneself to – a reign of terror in the name of morality, administer pain to oneself in order to ensure one’s continuity and calculability through time. If I am to be moral and keep my promises, I will remember what I promised and remain the same ‘I’ who first uttered that promise, resisting any circumstances that might alter its continuity through time, never dozing when wakefulness is needed. The promise takes on another meaning in Nietzsche when what I have promised is precisely to repay a debt, a promise by which I enter into, and become bound by, a certain kind of contract. What I have apparently burned into the will, or had burned there, is a promise to remember and repay that debt, to realise the promise within a calculable period of time, and so to become a calculable creature. I can be counted on to count the time and count up the money to make the repayment: that accountability is the promise. I can count on myself, and others can count on me. If I prove capable of making a contract, I can receive a loan and be relied on to pay it back with interest, so that the lender can accumulate wealth from my debt in a predictable way. And if I default, the law will intervene to protect his interest he exacts from me.

Judith Butler...

Stopped To Ponder...happenstance

Happenstance...

John Krumboltz is an established career theorist. He most recently developed ideas about supporting indecision in clients. He states that indecision is desirable and sensible, as it allows the opportunity for clients to benefit from unplanned events. This theory is called planned happenstance. "Now ain't that the sh*t. Ole Jes B Rambling was right after all. Doing nothing, cause I have not finished yet."

Lemme Think About It...awareness

"There is not a "you" independent of your awareness.

That is just a thought too."

Inside The Sane Asylum...

Announcement...

The Sane Asylum Hysterical Society would like to announce the ribbon cutting of a new
business venture in The Sane Asylum. No one knows for sure when it will open. Seems the proprietor is on the road trying to franchise the idea. But if you happen to be up Shit Creek without a paddle, you should look them up online. They carry some much needed merchandise.

P.s. You guessed it. No post today. Attending this important event. Ole Goat Man will be giving lessons on the fine art of goat milking...later, Doc.

P.s.s Don't believe all that bull sh*t I just wrote...the truth is, today is the day I cut my own hair. By the way, no post tomorrow either. I've got a lot of chores to do, besides, if you stay on Google to much you will need one of my paddles...also lowers your IQ...Doc

From The Far Side...of the glass. Anxiety

One important source shedding light on anxiety: Google. As reported by economist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, searches for anxiety have doubled in the past eight years. Certain terms are typed more often: ‘anxiety at night’ is skyrocketing, while ‘anxiety in the morning’ is also on the rise.

Most interesting about Stephens-Davidowitz’s reporting is that heavily reported items—major terrorism attacks; whatever Donald Trump is barking at—do not increase searches. Obviously Google is just one source, and not everyone seeks help online. But Google offers critical insights into social functioning. What the data reveals is fascinating...

Interestingly, memory plays an important role in both addiction and anxiety disorder. With addiction, positive reinforcement creates an insatiable urge to revisit the experience. An addict’s aggressive nature partly depends on recalling the feeling of the experience. Soon this spirals into negative reinforcement, where a potential inability to return to that state keeps the user focused not on pleasure, but fear of withdrawal.

This is why panic attacks are a withdrawal symptom. If the compulsion to use is unrewarded, an overwhelming sense of dread kicks in. While this insatiable craving is not exclusive to drugs—food and sex are also powerful motivators—drug addiction is perhaps the most damaging.


Derek Beres is working on his new book, Whole Motion: Training Your Brain and Body For Optimal Health (Carrel/Skyhorse, Spring 2017). He is based in Los Angeles. Stay in touch on Facebook and Twitter.  A good one to follow...Doc

Reflections From The Past...

----My Grandpa, John (Jean) Lemoine.

Poppa John and Momma John lived just across the bayou from us. Most of the time the bayou was full of water, but my Poppa solved that problem by building a footbridge across it. A big willow tree was next to the lil bridge. Poppa came home one day with a long piece of tow boat rope that he found on the river bank. We tied it to a big limb in the willow and played Tarzan with it, standing on the bridge, giving the Tarzan yell, then swinging on the rope out over the water. We had very little, but we were proud.

Poppa John had a milk cow. She never had a name, so we called her "milk cow". Seemed like it was ok with her, cause bout the only thing she ever said about it was "moooooo". (:-).

Poppa John milked that ole cow every afternoon, and on his way to the barn he would hit the milk dipper against the milk bucket, his signal to me it was time for me to get over there.

The old barn where "milk cow" lived was a scary place to a sprouting tadpole like me, and little did I know that a monster named "JudeBa" lived there too.

On our way back to the house with the milk Poppa John always had a sip or two of fresh warm milk left in the milk dipper. He would look around to see if Momma was not around, then give it to me to drink. I found out why one day, when Momma saw him give me the dipper, and did she fuss him or what. She told him the raw milk was gonna make me sick and kill me, but hey, even though I feel dead I am still kickin.

I have to admit, when I was little, I was bad.

 One day, a new resident moved into the ole barn, his name was "JudeBa". While Poppa John sat in his rocker on the back porch, JudeBa would come a crawling out of the barn on his all fours, moaning and groaning, then stand up, a big long black coat from his chin to his feet, big wide brimmed hat, not even a hint of his face could be seen. That's all it took to hightail it back over the bridge and back home while Poppa John laughed. This happened quite often, and every time it did, Momma John was nowhere to be seen.

Life was good living next to your Grandparents. When Christmas time rolled around Poppa John would load us up in his ole car and take us down the road to Mr. Duke Rogers store in MaCrea and buy us Christmas candy, moon pies,  stage planks, and firecrackers. While he was there he would get some "Joe Lewis sausage" and "forceted meat" for Momma John to cook. We ate a lot of "forceted meat" as kids, know what it is ? (:-). He never left Mr. Dukes without a half gallon of banana flavored Borden ice cream in the round cardboard container either.

Once we grew up a bit and the bad in us seemed to water down, ole JudeBa moved on.

Momma John took down sick and left this life many years before Poppa John, then before we knew it Poppa John's work here being finished,  he went to meet Momma John in that better place.

Their old house and barn, "milk cow",  the lil bridge Poppa built, the willow tree, Momma and Poppa, their house, everything they built, all faded away into the past, but me and mine still live here, the bayou is still there too, and sometimes while I sit alone on my swing in late afternoon, I can still hear Poppa John hitting the milk dipper against the milk pail, telling me it's time to milk the cow.

Hey Poppa John, you are a handsome man Sir, and I am so very proud to have your communian/confirmation candle, and one day very soon I will post a pic of it for the whole world to see.

Tell Great Great Grandpa Marcelin hello, never had the pleasure of meeting him, nor Great Great Grandma, no pictures of them, but i have his diary, and had he not survived the war, I would not be sitting here tonight, telling the world about a milk cow named "milk cow", a "JudeBa", lost bread, and peanut butter with syrup, mixed up in a bowl, waiting in the ice box for someone to eat, because it's "good for you, get you some",,,,,,,,,,,,,,just like family history.

May you and Momma John rest in peace, never to be forgotten.

--- This post is not the end, but the beginning instead.----'nuff said, for now.

Michael Gautreaux, Sr.

Stopped To Ponder...Silence

“There are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout,” Henry David Thoreau observed in contemplating how silence ennobles speech. A year earlier, he had written in his journal: “I wish to hear the silence of the night, for the silence is something positive and to be heard.” It’s a sentiment of almost unbearable bittersweetness today, a century and a half later, as we find ourselves immersed in a culture that increasingly mistakes loudness for authority, vociferousness for voice, screaming for substance. We seem to have forgotten what Susan Sontag reminded us half a century ago — that “silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech,” that it has its own aesthetic, and that learning to wield it is among the great arts of living.

Of the nine kinds of silence that Sontag’s contemporary and friend Paul Goodman outlined, “the fertile silence of awareness, pasturing the soul” is the kind we seem to have most hastily forsaken — and yet it is also the one we most urgently need if we are to reclaim the aesthetic of silence in the art of living.

From The Study...a conversation about possibilities

We all carry in our heads a model of reality put there by tradition,

training, and customs. When the events of life and the behavior of

persons around us conform to this model, we are at peace; and when

they don't conform, we feel upset. Thus, what in truth upsets us is not

those persons or those events, but the model of reality we carry with us...Doc

Discovering Ourselves...syllogistic reasoning

It all started long ago. Somehow during that still mysterious time of neuronal arrangement an ancestor realized its brain could carry simple reasoning. The new device might have enabled the brain to ask a question. Perhaps the brain noted nausea, and our poor ancestor just blurted out, "why am I feeling so shitty?" Was it that smelly caveman last night, or was it that weird green plant I ingested or what about the presidential election?"

All kinds of animals can figure out what makes them sick. Rats remember shit like that. They learn. That sort of simple associative reasoning abounds in the animal kingdom. What does not abound is the capacity to ask the next questions. "Why did the plant make me sick?" "How can I avoid that crap?" Sustained syllogistic reasoning, the capacity to state a major premise, then a minor one, followed by a deductive belief conclusion...our species alone can do that...pretty amazing! "I can't believe I ate that shit again!!"

Draw your own conclusions about yourself...after all, it's just my version of the truth, and I could be wrong...Doc

Discovering Ourselves Series...interesting species

In general the mind seeks to understand the world. In doing so it creates the illusion that we are in control of all our actions and reasoning. We become the center of a sphere of action so large it has no walls.

The manifest presence of the mind, rearing its magnificent head above the sea of species around us, raises the question, "Why us?" It is really a special device, or is it the mere consequence of the brain getting too big and loaded up with neurons? Is it truly a human instinct, an adaptation that supplies a competitive edge in enhancing reproductive success? What ever it is, this device, it has helped us conquer the vicissitudes of the environment and enabled us to become psychologically interesting to ourselves as a species.

Now with all that said, draw your own conclusions about yourself. After all, it's just  my version of the truth and I could be wrong...Doc

Discovering Ourselves...the fictional self

Discovering Ourselves...the fictional self

"There is no life that can be recaptured wholly, as it was. Which is to say that all biography is ultimately fiction. What does that tell us about the nature of life, and does one really want to know?" Bernard Malamud, Dublin's Lives

Well we do know about the fiction of our lives and we should want to know. Resconstruction of events starts with perception and goes all the way to human reasoning. Funny, the mind is the last to know things. After the brain computes an event, the illusionary "we" (that is, the mind) becomes aware of it. It reconstructs the brain events and in doing so makes telling errors of perception, memory, and judgement. The clue to how we are built is buried not just in our marvelously robust capacity for these functions but also in the errors that are frequently made during reconstruction. Biography is fiction. Autobiography is hopelessly inventive.

Now with all that said, draw your own conclusions about yourself.  After all, it's just my version of the truth and I could be wrong...Doc

From The Study...a conversation of possibilities

Use suffering to end suffering..

Happy experiences make life magical, painful experiences lead to growth. This does not mean we are to seek suffering and provoke pain. There is enough suffering in life. No reason to add to it, but we do with our "unreason". True reasoning is...we must use our suffering when it comes for its Nobel purpose.

Never say to yourself, "I'll be happy when this suffering passes." If you are not happy with things as they are with you now, you will never be. If you wait to get out of jail in order to be free, you'll never be free. Learn how to feel free while you are in jail, and then you can be free anywhere. A Nobel task for a Nobel purpose...

Lessons From The Sane Asylum..."un enlightenment"

Revelation always comes as somewhat of a shock, not only to the person who receives the revelation, but also to those with who it is shared. It is the nature of revelation to be shocking and startling because when it hits up against our cherished beliefs, we become conscious of the degree to which our minds have been conditioned, by opinion and theories in human thinking. Suddenly we realize the extent of our "un enlightenment".

The Human Conservancy...field office

“Humanity suffers terribly from the demons it has created over lengths of time.
We learn from nothing that we do. we create religions, heritage, race, traditions, then they all in turn become our stumbling blocks from becoming one. We suffer from the creations of our own inability to interpret history. the only thing we have succeded on is seperation. We are not that different from one another as we think we are.  But we are too corrupted to break our destruction.”
― Jeffrey Fischer

From The Study...a conversation of possibilities

A Personal Statement...Human Ecology

Today's psychology, as a collection of theories, concepts, and techniques, has attempted to help individuals and the society realize relief from mental problem solving methods that do nothing to increase ones understanding of the role of thought. This has led to the misperception that rituals, techniques or other placebos are the route to change. Thus, by creating the illusion of change through altering the form or format through which people express their insecurity, negative feelings, and dependencies, psychology has unwittingly contributed to its own inability to progress as a science and as a field of study. There is nothing to be found in studying and explaining the attributes of placebo sugar pills, water injection, or psychotherapeutic rituals, because in the end it is the human beings level of understanding and ability to think that brings results.

The field of psychology will take a new exciting direction when we begin to look directly toward the mental power we as humans possess. Once this new wisdom is formulated and shared with people, the benefits will spill over into our society to help many people looking for relief from emotional dis-ease. Mostly from their own fear created anxiety and recurrent life of self destructive behaviors that seem just out of individual control. Life Adjustment issues I call them.

This direction is also the one that will help the most people in the long run become better humans. Whether they are talking about improving the quality of their own individual reality, or possibility that of a society or even an entire humanity, the principle is the same. The only barrier to accomplishing these feats are those of thought. It is the knowledge of this fact that will allow human beings to successfully break the perceptual, emotional, and behavioral barriers that we all struggle with.

It's a beginning...but now the idea must mature into a reality. Our evolution of humans being human as a science will emerge. After all, consciousness is now being studied as a mass, something akin to matter and other quantities that can be measured. Our evolution will emerge as a willingness to accept something new, to listen to someone saying that the world is round rather than flat; that the earth is not the center of the solar system; that energy, matter, and space are alloted. Or perhaps by shifting our focus away from the manifestation of people's problems and move to the principles of thought, reality, consciousness, and emotions we will see our connection to mental well being. Society may just find the route to its own wisdom.

Human Ecology, The Human Conservacy, a new way of being human, a new humanity...it's time, it's a possibility...Doc

From The Far Side Of The Glass...doppelgangers

 Scientists have found that we’re friendlier to people who look like us. University of Washington scholar Ryan Calo thinks that will lead advertisers to morph the faces of spokesmodels in personalized, targeted ads to look like us so we’re more likely to buy their products. Scientists have also found we are more attracted to doppelgängers. That research led an entrepreneur to start a facial recognition-enabled dating site a few years back called “Find Your FaceMate” that embraced narcissism as the secret to true love. Though it claimed in 2012 to have attracted 50,000 customers, it shut down after its founder died at the end of 2013. FindYourFaceMate.com now contains tips for “smart motor mechanics.”

Lemme Think About It...thoughts

" Maybe, just maybe, we don't think in language, or think in words. Is it possible we think in visual images, or in auditory images? Could it be we think in abstract propositions about what is true about what? Is it possible that language is only a way of communicating thoughts, of getting them out of one head and into another by making noise?" ...Na, just a funny thought again...Doc

I think most people agree that we do not actually think in words. If we did: we would not search for the right word to express a thought; we could not think as pre-verbal infants; we would not have integrated thought if we were bilingual – and on and on. We do not think in actual words but perhaps in something like concepts. Those concepts could be represented by words or pictures or sounds or whatever. But do we actually think in concepts. Some would say that we think in symbols and with them we can ‘compute’ or think. Perhaps we have symbols standing for concepts and we manipulate these with some sort of rule system. Lemme think about it...

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Therapy...false memories.

"Well Doc, I'm here to develop some false memories,
so I can forget about my miserable life."

How Your Brain Keeps You Believing Crap That Isn't True

Much of what you believe to be true probably isn't, thanks to a mental shortcut your brain takes without you realizing it. There are things we do not know we don't know.

From The Far Side Of The Glass

Though the brain is ever malleable and able to rewire itself to any situation, almost instantly, it will take some time before neurologists know exactly how the internet has altered the brain’s makeup and what it might mean for cognition. We haven’t even mapped the entire organ, yet. So deeper understanding will take time. Still, there are a lot of indicators to how the ubiquity of the internet is changing how we think.

One example of a recent discovery with major implications is our further understanding of neuroplasticity. Simply put, we used to think our brain was what it was — unchangeable, unalterable. We were stuck with what nature gave us. In actuality, our brains are like plastic. We can alter neurochemistry to change beliefs, thoughts processes, emotions, etc. You are the architect of your brain. You also have the power to act against dangerous impulses such as addiction. The therapeutic possibilities here are endless.

The Human Conservancy...field office

Just a few times in our life do we meet a person whose character and personality qualities stop us in our tracts. Their presence fills the room. Charismatic but substantive. Confident but humble. Authoritative but gracious. Exuding strength invested in a lifetime of headwaters but drunk deeply from the sources of humanity. The more we see and feel of this person, the more WE seem to be...When you meet this person, listen with the depth of your senses. Listen to all that is possible...you are going to be listening for the lesson.

Listen for the lesson in every person you meet, and that in itself is an enormous privilege and adventure...Doc

Lessons From The Sane Asylum...sensations

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"Consciousness itself is an instrument of adaptation. Sensations are not ends in themselves. They are merely occasions or signals to inform us it is proper to do certain things..."

From Inside The Sane Asylum...

Today’s news

From Inside The Sane Asylum

Some have been asking, from what reality am I posting? Never gave that much thought, but it is simple question to answer...from my illusions. I don't want anyone to feel cheated with any of my comments and post but they all come from my illusions of truth as I know them to be. So I could be wrong.

As far as my endeavors...well I am a Thought Placebo Researcher in The Sane Asylum. As I see it, placebos work at least twenty eight percent of the time, so why not try it with thoughts. There are some dangers, however, one could get dependent on thought placebos or even suffer from the ill effects of NoPlacebo. There really is such a thing, you know. I don't have many fears but there is one, I'm concerned the pharmaceutical company that makes Prozac will make me change my moniker..

The Sane Asylum is just another illusion, but a good one. There are citizens that actual live in The Sane Asylum. Homesteaders mostly.. Occasionally we will get a wanderer, like the Ole Goat Man that lives on the outskirts. There are no seekers in the Sane Asylum. The citizens have nothing against them, they just don't have enough time to bring them around. From time to time we will get a visa request which may be approved. That Gypsy Girl, Izzy IsNess and N D Shadow are Visa holders.

On a serious note, The Sane Asylum is a Preservation Site for those Of Sound Mind or we like to think so. Funny how we chase our sanity around by the tail. I hope you will occasionally visit  dregoprozac.blogspot.com. I try to feature posts that reflect the best moments in our human condition.  From time to time you will even get a visit from one of the homesteaders that may give you a little of their Folk Psychology.

Footnote, of sorts...Don't forget to make peace with yourself and get along with it all...Doc

Lessons From The Sane Asylum...

"Give me the hardest task"...I pleaded,
As I stood at my masters feet.

"It shall be so, my child", he said.
"Thy task is but...to wait."

Lemme Think About It...three score and ten

Threescore and ten is an average, not a promise, and all too easy to take for granted.
The years pass, not with the ticking of the clock, but with the silent hissing of sand through the center of an hourglass....

Now of my three score years and ten,
twenty will not come again.
And take from seventy years a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.