>Hi Nate,
>I love Zukav. I like to call it a paradox rather then a
>misunderstanding. You'll find some people here who don't like paradox
>because
>it is not "rational". There are some crude measures
>that look at whether you are right, left, or mixed dominance.
>They look at which hand(s) do you use to write, kick/hit a ball, etc.
>I think the dancing he refers to is a flexibility between the two
>hemispheres.
>Erin
Erin,
I think I'd agree. The misunderstanding I observed is just an effect, an externalization, of the paradox; you were able to dig a little deeper into that than I was.
I think the problem with this whole rational/irrational riggamarole is that, as western rationality gradually steamrolls across the world, we're losing that right-hemispheric way of thinking. Take forest management for example. In forests all over the world there are indigenous people living in and working the land quite adequately. They help shape the forest by managing their hunting, burning, using what they take from the forest efficiently, choosing where they live, et cetera. They don't have precise knowledge of the state of the forest, but an whole, intuitive idea. They have a deep, complex understanding of the health and general state of the forest and wildlife.
Eventually the indigenous people are heaved out by some sort of government controlled management department who do all sorts of extensive data collection ... databasing wildlife population and whatnot. And based on this collected data, they manage the forest. Indigenous people can't tell you an exact number, because they have that aforementioned intuitive idea of the state of the forest. Their minds aren't clouded by fragmentation. This is a kind of understanding a beurocrat could never obtain.
Further (this is an idea my friend Bri discussed with me), indigenous people would take action by not acting, thinking in the long term ... they let it be so as to allow the forest to regain its health and natural state of being gradually, on its own, as it would without human medaling. "A western thinkier would be constantly
trying techniques in an ever-spiraling series of actions that would lead to out of control action/reactions. Think of physical health too. Eastern thought gives all focus to keeping the body healthy through preventive measures -- eating right, abstaining from excesses -- while western thought prescribes emergency room heart defibrillators after you eat butter all day.
I remember hearing of a world wide plan to paint all roofs white to counteract some greenhouse effect. Rather than limit our technology, they were going to do more things, which of course would cost a shitload of money, creates tons of toxic chemicals and of course, contribute to the greenhouse effect."
I also have a theory involiving time travel and subatomic particles' tendencies to just "appear" in a void which challenges logic and/or rationality as the best way of thinking. It's pretty half-cooked and, honestly, I don't really know what I'm talking about, so I'll spare everyone of that. If ever I become a supergenius in the world of quantum mechanics I'll give you all the skinny, but currently I'm a 21-year-old art school dropout; not happening ever.
--Nate
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“if americans are unable to take responsibility for their actions then why should anyone take responsibility to save them from their own stupidity? thank you drive thru.” --Timmy D.
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