Blog Dis
The intellectual construct of abstractions
2025-02-25
Woe is me! Soon, my lovely readers we'll be entering into a Mercury Retrograde which begins on March 14 and ends on April 7. These retrograde periods mean that it will appear as though your world is moving backwards, taking a few steps back, metaphorically speaking, rather than your life moving swimmingly forward. The word retrograde in Latin is retrogrado, to literally go backwards. Things won't literally move backwards as you step into the street or talk to people, it'll just appear this way. Conversations will be in a state of flux as you struggle to comprehend what apparently seems incomprehensible.
I've a longtime Metis friend whom I've known for 30 years. It makes him crazy when I talk about Mercury Retrogrades (and rightly so), because he has a difficult time accepting that the position of the planet Mercury being so far away from Earth can have an effect on humans, and he's right to think this way. Me too! Yet, he's also quick to acknowledge that without even knowing the Retro dates, he's able to call me up and tell me, without my confirmation, "We're in another fecking Retrograde aren't we?" I hear the anger in his voice, because he then goes on to point out how everything is either breaking down or pieces are falling off or his closest friends and family are acting oddly, and how arguments are erupting for no reason. To which I'll say, "Yep! We're in one right now." The Farmer's Almanac lists the Mercury Retrograde dates every year when they issue their new report (Retrogrades occur minimum three times a year and sometimes four, and last for roughly three weeks at a time). Again, this annoys my friend greatly, because as he has rightly pointed out, he doesn't believe in formulas of any kind. Yet, I've come to accept that pattern recognition is worthwhile, if say you notice that during some specific periods in the calendar year there are inexplicable happenings that cannot be justified with a rational explanation.
Regardless, life must go on, as it always does, even while under a Mercury Retrograde. I, too, have my difficulties because the writing ideas don't flow as easily as they do when not under the influence of Mercury, which ostensibly affects communication. It seems like a silly construct of an abstract idea to suggest that people and the fluidity of moving parts can be affected by an unseen force but that is precisely what a Mercury Retrograde is all about, and exactly what it means to be thrown into the deep, dark well of abstraction.
Abstraction is the consideration of a theory without necessarily having proof rooted in reality. But then, I have to ask, as perhaps you are as well, what the hell is an abstraction? Some say it's an impractical idea that has no place in reality and again I say, hey we're dealing with people and as far as I'm concerned people made up the word abstract because it reflects how the human mind works. The human mind, after all, doesn't differentiate between reality or fantasy, it merely processes the information fed to it externally or internally, then copes as best it can, given that some minds are truly screwed up in operation, or the opposite, the minds that operate on a higher level. We all know people like this; the ones whose minds don't run on all pistons yet they're convinced they're normal and that everyone around them is a little bent. Fact is their notions of perceiving life are a tad more abstract than others.
It takes an intellectual mind to fully grasp all abstract ideas in their intended shape and form. Einstein wasn't regarded as purely an abstract thinker, but he did use abstract concepts (tools) to comprehend the world. Marshall McLuhan, was also a brilliant abstract thinker the likes of which Canada hasn't seen since his death. Abstract thinking asks much of you, to put aside your concrete notions that can be touched, tasted or understood at the outset, to instead stretch the imagination to the point that it no longer seems plausible or even recognizable. Abstraction is the fundamental basis upon which quantum physics is based, as well as theoretical thinking. As much as we may want to live only in the here and now, our abstract thoughts are just as significant as our attentive thoughts. Sometimes you can be sitting on the porch with your three-legged dog, wondering how the Universe hasn't spun out of control, until some wire-haired individual walks out of the wheat stalks with a brilliant notion that explains it all. In order to suspend the air of disbelief, you have to let go of your reality and embrace the abstract, even if the blubbering idiot before you has bread rolls falling out of his overalls.
Now that I've thoroughly confused myself with my own intellectual construct of what abstraction means to me, forget about your version, I'm going to wallow in several cups of expresso and ponder these weighty subjects further. Perhaps a wedge of free trade dark chocolate will ease the burden... Ok, maybe even three wedges.
I've a longtime Metis friend whom I've known for 30 years. It makes him crazy when I talk about Mercury Retrogrades (and rightly so), because he has a difficult time accepting that the position of the planet Mercury being so far away from Earth can have an effect on humans, and he's right to think this way. Me too! Yet, he's also quick to acknowledge that without even knowing the Retro dates, he's able to call me up and tell me, without my confirmation, "We're in another fecking Retrograde aren't we?" I hear the anger in his voice, because he then goes on to point out how everything is either breaking down or pieces are falling off or his closest friends and family are acting oddly, and how arguments are erupting for no reason. To which I'll say, "Yep! We're in one right now." The Farmer's Almanac lists the Mercury Retrograde dates every year when they issue their new report (Retrogrades occur minimum three times a year and sometimes four, and last for roughly three weeks at a time). Again, this annoys my friend greatly, because as he has rightly pointed out, he doesn't believe in formulas of any kind. Yet, I've come to accept that pattern recognition is worthwhile, if say you notice that during some specific periods in the calendar year there are inexplicable happenings that cannot be justified with a rational explanation.
Regardless, life must go on, as it always does, even while under a Mercury Retrograde. I, too, have my difficulties because the writing ideas don't flow as easily as they do when not under the influence of Mercury, which ostensibly affects communication. It seems like a silly construct of an abstract idea to suggest that people and the fluidity of moving parts can be affected by an unseen force but that is precisely what a Mercury Retrograde is all about, and exactly what it means to be thrown into the deep, dark well of abstraction.
Abstraction is the consideration of a theory without necessarily having proof rooted in reality. But then, I have to ask, as perhaps you are as well, what the hell is an abstraction? Some say it's an impractical idea that has no place in reality and again I say, hey we're dealing with people and as far as I'm concerned people made up the word abstract because it reflects how the human mind works. The human mind, after all, doesn't differentiate between reality or fantasy, it merely processes the information fed to it externally or internally, then copes as best it can, given that some minds are truly screwed up in operation, or the opposite, the minds that operate on a higher level. We all know people like this; the ones whose minds don't run on all pistons yet they're convinced they're normal and that everyone around them is a little bent. Fact is their notions of perceiving life are a tad more abstract than others.
It takes an intellectual mind to fully grasp all abstract ideas in their intended shape and form. Einstein wasn't regarded as purely an abstract thinker, but he did use abstract concepts (tools) to comprehend the world. Marshall McLuhan, was also a brilliant abstract thinker the likes of which Canada hasn't seen since his death. Abstract thinking asks much of you, to put aside your concrete notions that can be touched, tasted or understood at the outset, to instead stretch the imagination to the point that it no longer seems plausible or even recognizable. Abstraction is the fundamental basis upon which quantum physics is based, as well as theoretical thinking. As much as we may want to live only in the here and now, our abstract thoughts are just as significant as our attentive thoughts. Sometimes you can be sitting on the porch with your three-legged dog, wondering how the Universe hasn't spun out of control, until some wire-haired individual walks out of the wheat stalks with a brilliant notion that explains it all. In order to suspend the air of disbelief, you have to let go of your reality and embrace the abstract, even if the blubbering idiot before you has bread rolls falling out of his overalls.
Now that I've thoroughly confused myself with my own intellectual construct of what abstraction means to me, forget about your version, I'm going to wallow in several cups of expresso and ponder these weighty subjects further. Perhaps a wedge of free trade dark chocolate will ease the burden... Ok, maybe even three wedges.
