{"id":15958,"date":"2014-08-29T10:09:10","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T14:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=15958"},"modified":"2014-08-29T06:13:54","modified_gmt":"2014-08-29T10:13:54","slug":"it-seems-so-reasonable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/it-seems-so-reasonable\/","title":{"rendered":"It Seems So Reasonable, and So Crazy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Escaping<\/a><\/p>\n

[Image: panel excerpted from “Slobbering Like Pavlov’s Dog: A Neurocomic,” by Matteo Farinella
\nand Hana Ros. To see the three-panel portion of the comic of which this is a part, click on the image.
\nFor the whole thing, head on over to <\/em>The Nib<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

From whiskey river<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

A whole lot of us go through life assuming that we are basically right, basically all the time, about basically everything: about our political and intellectual convictions, our religious and moral beliefs, our assessment of other people, our memories, our grasp of facts. As absurd as it sounds when we stop to think about it, our steady state seems to be one of unconsciously assuming that we are very close to omniscient.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Kathryn Schulz [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and<\/a> (italicized lines):<\/p>\n

Miracle Fair<\/strong><\/p>\n

Commonplace miracle:
\nthat so many commonplace miracles happen.<\/p>\n

An ordinary miracle:
\nin the dead of night
\nthe barking of invisible dogs.<\/p>\n

One miracle out of many:
\na small, airy cloud
\nyet it can block a large and heavy moon.<\/p>\n

Several miracles in one:
\nan alder tree reflected in the water,
\nand that it\u2019s backwards left to right
\nand that it grows there, crown down
\nand never reaches the bottom,
\neven though the water is shallow.<\/p>\n

An everyday miracle:
\nwinds weak to moderate
\nturning gusty in storms.<\/p>\n

First among equal miracles:
\ncows are cows.<\/p>\n

Second to none:
\njust this orchard
\nfrom just that seed.<\/p>\n

A miracle without a cape and top hat:
\nscattering white doves.<\/p>\n

A miracle, for what else could you call it:
\ntoday the sun rose at three-fourteen
\nand will set at eight-o-one.<\/p>\n

A miracle, less surprising than it should be:
\neven though the hand has fewer than six fingers,
\nit still has more than four.<\/p>\n

A miracle, just take a look around:<\/em>
\nthe world is everywhere.<\/em><\/p>\n

An additional miracle, as everything is additional:<\/em>
\nthe unthinkable<\/em>
\nis thinkable.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Wislawa Szymborska [source<\/em><\/a>; I have used this one before<\/a>, although not on a Friday])<\/p>\n

..and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The range of the human mind, the scale and depth of the metaphors the mind is capable of manufacturing as it grapples with the universe, stand in stunning contrast to the belief that there is only one reality, which is man’s, or worse, that only one culture among the many on earth possesses the truth.<\/p>\n

To allow mystery, which is to say to yourself, “There could be more, there could be things we don’t understand,” is not to damn knowledge. It is to take a wider view. It is to permit yourself an extraordinary freedom: someone else does not have to be wrong in order that you may be right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Barry L\u00f3pez [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n

You’re the Top<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of all the people that I’ve ever known
\nI think my grandmother Bernice
\nwould be best qualified to be beside me now<\/p>\n

driving north of Boston in a rented car
\nwhile Cole Porter warbles on the radio;
\nOnly she would be trivial and un-<\/p>\n

politically correct enough to totally enjoy
\nthe rhyming of Mahatma Ghandi
\nwith Napoleon brandy;<\/p>\n

and she would understand, from 1948,
\nthe miracle that once was cellophane,
\nwhich Porter rhymes with night in Spain.<\/p>\n

She loved that image of the high gay life
\nwhere people dressed by servants
\nturned every night into the Ritz:<\/p>\n

dancing through a shower of just
\nuncorked champagne
\ninto the shelter of a dry martini.<\/p>\n

When she was 70 and I was young
\nI hated how a life of privilege
\nhad kept her ignorance intact<\/p>\n

about the world beneath her pretty feet,
\nhow she believed that people with good manners
\nnaturally had yachts, knew how to waltz<\/p>\n

and dribbled French into their sentences
\nlike salad dressing. My liberal adolescent rage
\nwas like a righteous fist back then<\/p>\n

that wouldn’t let me rest,
\nbut I’ve come far enough from who I was
\nto see her as she saw herself:<\/p>\n

a tipsy debutante in 1938,
\nkicking off a party with her shoes;
\nlaunching the lipstick-red high heel
\nfrom her elegant big toe<\/span><\/p>\n

into the orbit of a chandelier
\nsuspended in a lyric by Cole Porter,
\nbright and beautiful and useless.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Tony Hoagland [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and:<\/p>\n

All scientific knowledge is uncertain. This experience with doubt and uncertainty is important. I believe that it is of very great value, and one that extends beyond the sciences. I believe that to solve any problem that has never been solved before, you have to leave the door to the unknown ajar. You have to permit the possibility that you do not have it exactly right…<\/p>\n

If we were not able or did not desire to look in any new direction, if we did not have a doubt or recognize ignorance, we would not get any new ideas. There would be nothing worth checking, because we would know what is true. So what we call scientific knowledge today is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty. Some of them are most unsure; some of them are nearly sure; but none is absolutely certain. Scientists are used to this. We know that it is consistent to be able to live and not know. Some people say, “How can you live without knowing?” I do not know what they mean. I always live without knowing. That is easy. How you get to know is what I want to know.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Richard Feynman [source<\/em><\/a>, but also see source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and:<\/p>\n

Bottled Water<\/strong><\/p>\n

I go to the corner liquor store
\nfor a bottle of water, middle
\nof a hectic day, must get out
\nof the office, stop making decisions,
\nquit obsessing does my blue skirt clash
\nwith my hot pink flats; should I get
\nmy mother a caregiver or just put her
\nin a home, and I pull open the glass
\nrefrigerator door, am confronted
\nby brands—Arrowhead, Glitter Geyser,
\nDeer Park, spring, summer, winter water,
\nand clearly the bosses of bottled water:
\nReal Water and Smart Water—how different
\nwill they taste? If I drink Smart Water
\nwill I raise my IQ but be less authentic?
\nIf I choose Real Water will I no longer
\ndeny the truth, but will I attract confused,
\nneedy people who\u2019ll take advantage
\nof my realness by dumping their problems
\non me, and will I be too stupid to help them
\nsort through their murky dilemmas?
\nI take no chances, buy them both,
\nsparkling smart, purified real, drain both bottles,
\nlook around to see is anyone watching?
\nI\u2019m now brilliantly hydrated.
\nBoth real and<\/em> smart my insides bubble
\nwith compassion and intelligence
\nas I walk the streets with a new swagger,
\nknowing the world is mine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Kim Dower [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image: panel excerpted from “Slobbering Like Pavlov’s Dog: A Neurocomic,” by Matteo Farinella and Hana Ros. To see the three-panel portion of the comic of which this is a part, click on the image. For the whole thing, head on over to The Nib.] From whiskey river: A whole lot of us go through life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,95,250,273,5,50],"tags":[921,1123,2728,3836,3862,3863,3864,3865,3866,3867,3868],"class_list":{"0":"post-15958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-science-medicine","9":"category-art","10":"category-comics","11":"category-06_writing","12":"category-language-writing_cat","13":"tag-wislawa-szymborska","14":"tag-richard-feynman","15":"tag-tony-hoagland","16":"tag-intelligence","17":"tag-barry-lopez","18":"tag-kathryn-schulz","19":"tag-matteo-farinella","20":"tag-hana-ros","21":"tag-kim-dower","22":"tag-wisdom","23":"tag-the-nib","24":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-49o","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15958"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15979,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15958\/revisions\/15979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}