{"id":27140,"date":"2024-04-19T10:51:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T14:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=27140"},"modified":"2024-04-19T10:51:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T14:51:15","slug":"what-it-means-to-observe-and-to-know-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/what-it-means-to-observe-and-to-know-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What It Means to Observe, and to Know It"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-GjH3VpNpRM?si=Vf1s8D3QG1sNcLrP\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"smalltext\"><em>[Video: Peter Frampton&#8217;s instrumental cover of Soundgarden&#8217;s &#8220;Black Hole Sun,&#8221; recorded at a concert in Los Angeles last weekend. (Frampton was diagnosed several years ago with a muscular disease called inclusion body myositis, hence his performance in a chair throughout the concert.) Soundgarden&#8217;s original version of the song was released with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg\">a spectacularly surreal video<\/a> which I thought of including here instead, just as an object lesson in &#8220;What the <\/em>hell <em>am I looking at here, and what does it <\/em>mean<em>?&#8221; which seemed apt for this week&#8217;s theme. But really: it was just too&#8230; too <\/em>weird<em>.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From <em><a href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2024\/04\/how-often-i-find-you-then-on-your-patio.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">whiskey river<\/a><\/em> (italicized lines):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Sincerely, the Sky<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, I see you down there<br>looking up into my vastness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What are you hoping<br>to find on my vacant face,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>there between the crisscross<br>of telephone wires?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You should know I am only<br>bright blue now because of physics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>molecules break and scatter<br>my light from the sun<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>more than any other color.<br>You know my variations&#8212;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>azure at noon, navy by midnight.<br><em>How often I find you<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>then on your patio, pajamaed<br>and distressed, head thrown<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>back so your eyes can pick apart<br>not the darker version of myself<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>but the carousel of stars.<br>To you I am merely background.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>You barely hear my voice.<br>Remember I am most vibrant<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>when air breaks my light.<br>Do something with your brokenness.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>(David Hernandez [<em><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=idC-CwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT29#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8230;<a href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2024\/04\/some-people-turn-sad-awfully-young.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">and<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Some people turn sad awfully young. No special reason, it seems, but they seem almost to be born that way. They bruise easier, tire faster, cry quicker, remember longer and, as I say, get sadder younger than anyone else in the world. I know, for I&#8217;m one of them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>(Ray Bradbury [<em><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/dandelionwine0000rayb\/page\/258\/mode\/1up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not from <em>whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>The Gate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had no idea that the gate I would step through<br>to finally enter this world<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>would be the space my brother&#8217;s body made. He was<br>a little taller than me: a young man<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>but grown, himself by then,<br>done at twenty-eight, having folded every sheet,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>rinsed every glass he would ever rinse under the cold<br>and running water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is what you have been waiting for, he used to say to me.<br>And I&#8217;d say, What?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And he&#8217;d say, This&#8212;holding up my cheese and mustard sandwich.<br>And I&#8217;d say, What?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And he&#8217;d say, This, sort of looking around.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>(Marie Howe [<em><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=zZjUDAAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT153#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>(Charles Dickens [<em><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=_qsXAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA71#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>On the Fifth Day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the fifth day<br>the scientists who studied the rivers<br>were forbidden to speak<br>or to study the rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The scientists who studied the air<br>were told not to speak of the air,<br>and the ones who worked for the farmers<br>were silenced,<br>and the ones who worked for the bees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Someone, from deep in the Badlands,<br>began posting facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The facts were told not to speak<br>and were taken away.<br>The facts, surprised to be taken, were silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now it was only the rivers<br>that spoke of the rivers,<br>and only the wind that spoke of its bees,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>while the unpausing factual buds of the fruit trees<br>continued to move toward their fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The silence spoke loudly of silence,<br>and the rivers kept speaking<br>of rivers, of boulders and air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bound to gravity, earless and tongueless,<br>the untested rivers kept speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bus drivers, shelf stockers,<br>code writers, machinists, accountants,<br>lab techs, cellists kept speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They spoke, the fifth day,<br>of silence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>(Jane Hirshfield [<em><a href=\"https:\/\/poets.org\/poem\/fifth-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Video: Peter Frampton&#8217;s instrumental cover of Soundgarden&#8217;s &#8220;Black Hole Sun,&#8221; recorded at a concert in Los Angeles last weekend. (Frampton was diagnosed several years ago with a muscular disease called inclusion body myositis, hence his performance in a chair throughout the concert.) Soundgarden&#8217;s original version of the song was released with a spectacularly surreal video [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27144,"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":"federate","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"David Hernandez, Marie Howe, et al.: 'What It Means to Observe, and to Know It'","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":[247,1393,74,4878,251],"tags":[270,1750,3165,3476,4703,4984,5893,5894,5895,5896],"class_list":{"0":"post-27140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ruminations","8":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","9":"category-music","10":"category-fiction","11":"category-poetry-writing_cat","12":"tag-jane-hirshfield","13":"tag-charles-dickens","14":"tag-ray-bradbury","15":"tag-marie-howe","16":"tag-noticing","17":"tag-paying-attention","18":"tag-peter-frampton","19":"tag-david-hernandez","20":"tag-black-hole-sun","21":"tag-soundgarden","22":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/frampton_blackholesun_youtube.jpg?fit=1065%2C618&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-73K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27140","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=27140"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27145,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27140\/revisions\/27145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}