{"id":5640,"date":"2009-09-11T09:48:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T13:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=5640"},"modified":"2018-10-20T12:43:36","modified_gmt":"2018-10-20T16:43:36","slug":"on-the-inside-looking-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/on-the-inside-looking-in\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Inside, Looking In"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

From whiskey river<\/em> (italicized portion):<\/p>\n

Messenger<\/strong><\/p>\n

My work is loving the world.
\nHere the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
\nequal seekers of sweetness.<\/span>
\nHere the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
\nHere the clam deep in the speckled sand.<\/p>\n

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
\nAm I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
\nkeep my mind on what matters,<\/span>
\nwhich is my work,<\/em><\/p>\n

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
\nastonished.<\/span><\/em>
\nThe phoebe, the delphinium.
\nThe sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
\nWhich is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,<\/p>\n

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
\nand these body-clothes,<\/span>
\na mouth with which to give shouts of joy
\nto the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,<\/span>
\ntelling them all, over and over, how it is
\nthat we live forever.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Mary Oliver [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>, but to celebrate Mary Oliver’s 75th birthday yesterday, 9\/10:<\/p>\n

Self-Portrait<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wish I was twenty and in love with life
\nand still full of beans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Onward, old legs!
\nThere are the long, pale dunes; on the other side
\nthe roses are blooming and finding their labor
\nno adversity to the spirit.<\/p>\n

Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea
\nshining like a song, like a body
\nI want to touch<\/p>\n

though I’m not twenty
\nand won’t be again but ah! seventy. And still
\nin love with life. And still
\nfull of beans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Mary Oliver [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

On the subject of mysterious things to learn about yourself, there’s this little experiment, here<\/a> described by Davina Bristow of The Daily Telegraph<\/em> as “The Pinochio Illusion”:<\/p>\n

What to do:<\/strong> You need a friend who has no hang-ups about his nose to do this. Sit on a chair and ask your friend to blindfold you. Your friend should then sit on a chair directly in front of you with his back to you. Now reach round and place your right hand on your friend’s nose. (This trick is potentially a great icebreaker at parties.)<\/p>\n

Now put your left hand on your own nose, and then gently tap and stroke both noses at the same time with identical movements. After about a minute, this gives around half of participants the bizarre feeling that their nose is 3ft long, or that their nose is somehow elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The science bit<\/strong>: This illusion occurs for a similar reason to the rubber-arm illusion [described earlier in the same article], but this time vision is not involved. You are stroking and tapping a nose with one hand and feeling your own nose being stroked and tapped (by your other hand).<\/p>\n

The actions you are making and feeling are exactly the same, so after a while your brain concludes that you are touching your own nose. But you also feel that your arm is stretched out, so the brain reasons that the nose is 3ft long.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally… a young woman with a gray (and perhaps empty) everyday life explains how she escapes it — it seems, infectiously, to involve dancing with herself:<\/p>\n