Well, I am still looking for my second quarter.
The book of course did not anticipate the pandemic, and finding the second quarter has been difficult. Some commenters have pointed out that cashless transactions are more common now than when the book was published, and of course that is true. But there are other reasons I am having trouble. The COVID-19 pandemic is out of control in Ohio, and the governor has responded by suggesting that everyone stop going out as much as possible. This seems like good advice, and going to the store these days is limited to brief stops to pick up something that was ordered in advance. So there is not much for lingering outside the store, looking for coins. I actually do a lot of walking, up to three miles a day if the weather is decent and time permits, and it is my main form of (physical) exercise.
So, what to do about the exercises? We aren't scheduled to get to Chapter 2 until April, so there is still time. Four of the 11 exercises are tied to the damn quarters, so I will keep trying to find the second quarter through the rest of December. After that, I will consider advancing through the other exercises, particularly as RAW allows us, in exercise No. 5, to come up with "similar experiments" on our own.
How are you doing on your exercises, and do you think I am giving enough time to finding my two quarters? I did find a first one, and I will give it the college try for another couple of weeks to find the second one.
8 comments:
I suspect you will find quarters eventually. Bob purposely made the first exercises difficult and a bit boring. He doesn't say you can't work on multiple exercises simultaneously. He does say to spend at least six months on the first nine exercises for chapter one. I recommend that you keep looking for quarters until you find at least two more. So what if it takes 23 years. As you mentioned, it makes great exercise. Plus, I suspect you will find them more quickly than that, probably in 2021 (perhaps in 2020). Can you see why I wanted to take some time with these exercises? The chapter six exercises take at least a year or two.
I have taken 5 walks to date and still no quarter. BUT, that is not the only outcome... on walk 4 I began to notice a gap opening up between my thinker-prover "self". Prover is getting doubting looks from thinker. Not exactly a schism opening up but some concern that prover may have been a little over confident in his ability to deliver. That's okay because other stuff is happening. I am walking in parts of town that I normally avoid. I am becoming familiar with the stoops and curbs along the way. I stopped listening to podcasts/music while I walk so as to sharpen my concentration. Overall I am just doing the EXERCIZE which, well isn't that part of the point?
Plenty of cash being spent a the dispensaries in MJ legal states. I keep meaning to pay more attention when I stop by for supplies.
I sure would think that doing the exercize and, by doing so, exercising your body and mind, is more important than finding the coin itself. I keep on looking but I am these days more amused at all the reasons I think of as to why I do not find any coin, rather than being annoyed at not finding anything.
I tend to totally forget about the other exercizes, which is a shame. Where I live the pandemic isn restrictions aren't so bad, and I still see enough people at my job in services that I should be able to do the ones that are about trying to guess the Thinker and Prover in other people.
As Eric said (I hope you are feeling well these days Eric !), so what if it takes years to complete some exercizes, you don't rewire your brain overnight. We probably would do well to implement some of those in our daily life anyway, and I sure will keep on trying to levitate until I succeed !
I am also happy about the fact that spending so much time on this first chapter allows us to discuss many different topics.
On that regard I would like to come back to this Book of Thoth quote from Oz Fritz in last week's discussion : "She bears a covered cup from which issues a tortoise. This is again the tortoise which in Hindu philosophy supports the elephant on whose back is the Universe. She is dancing on a foaming sea in which disports a dolphin, the royal fish, which symbolizes the power of Creation."
So, apart from the tortoise and elephant, we also have here the dolphin, which is prominently featured in Illuminatus!
But I found it especially interesting to have this mention of "a foaming sea", as the day before reading this comment I had been watching The World of Buckminster Fuller, in which at some point he explains that it is in observing that the foam from the sea on a beach actually is nothing billions of billions of tiny round bubbles that he eventually started the thought process that ended with coming up with the geodesic dome invention. No matter how genius an idea a human can have, chances are "Nature" came up with it before. Or perhaps it is exactly because it exists in nature already that our human brains are able to conceive it.
And of course, foaming sea is to be observed on the very background of this blog, hehe...
Happy winter solstice to everyone !
Doing OK, thank you, BFHN. I have decided to focus on Debussy for the next two months. My nerves need it.
I have found three quarters in short order, but I still don't think i have finished this exercise as *finding* the quarters is less important (I think) than the mindset used in finding each of them, and I have not had the mental energy to look for quarters with a particular mindset. Maybe after Christmas.
I am curious if people are using social media for the "What the Thinker Thinks, the Prover Proves" experiments/observations especially around Russiagate and QAnon? (The pandemic and use of masks...pick one, there's tons to choose from)
Shakespeare's 24th sonnet reminds me of the metaprogrammer and "what the thinker thinks, the prover proves." 24 also marks the number of stages in the 8 Circuit model, each circuit having 3 stages.
Mine eye hath played the painter and hath steeled,
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart;
My body is the frame wherein 'tis held,
And perspective that is best painter's art.
For through the painter must you see his skill,
To find where your true image pictured lies,
Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still,
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes.
Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done:
Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me
Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee;
Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art,
They draw but what they see, know not the heart.
Post a Comment