Philosophy
Today is the first day of classes and every fall, I teach logic at 8:00 in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Living an hour from campus and realizing that in order to get anything done during the day, the only way to secure a block of uninterrupted time is to arrive before the campus rouses, I get up early. I mean early. I'm an atheist, but have no problem describing the hour I awake as ungodly.
So, I was horrified when this morning I looked at the alarm clock to see it read 7:15. Two words go through your mind. One of them is "holy" and the other one decidedly isn't. Like grieving, there is a process in cases like this and the stages are fixed. First there is panic. The heart thumps, the stomach falls, the back of the neck get s hot. Late on the first day of classes. A big no-no. Then there is denial. "Maybe I can make it if I..." Next comes the blame. "Who messed with the clock? Was it TheWife, the short people?" Then doubt. "Did I set it for p.m, not a.m.?" We move to the consideration of alibis, "how can I squirm out of this?" and then finally onto acceptance.
Having gone through all of the stressful stages, it was with complete acceptance that I walked to my car in the morning sunlight -- something I usually do not see -- when unexpectedly, the real alarm went off. It had all been a dream. My mind was messing with me. At times like this, one word goes through your mind and it isn't "holy." Yes, I would not have to deal with being late, but there is still a deep sense of annoyance at having to have gone through what I did for no good reason.
It is hard not to play the Freudian game of trying to create just-so stories to explain the meaning of such dreams. But even if we do not attribute subconscious meaning to these events, is there some way in which they serve us?
- Gendering Leisure
TheWife and I took the short people rollerskating yesterday. Everyone had a good time, but noticed something odd. The place was 4:1 girls to boys. I had noticed something similar, although not that stark at other roller rinks. When did skating become...
- The Value Of False Rituals
TheWife loves rituals. She finds great meaning in them, even if they are new rituals that she or we are inventing for our family as we go. I, on the other hand, have never been one for rituals. They've always seemed like inauthentic actions performed...
- Larceny Week: Gwydion On Dreams
One of the great things about having had a dear friend for thirty five years is that you can steal one of his really good blog posts and know that he won't get too angry at you. Now that Gwydion has taken his blog dark for a while, there's a wonderful...
- Deja Vu: Sir, Yes, Sir
So the official response to the massacre and cover up in Haditha is...wait for it..."core values training on moral and ethical standards on the battlefield". Now, I have no battlefield experience myself, but I am a veteran of the fight over core values...
- Meaning Of Dreams In Philosophy - Is Reality A Dream?
For many centuries the phenomenon of dreams has been used as an evidence for great limitations of the human mind. Dream argument is one of the oldest arguments concerning philosophy of mind; numerous thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Zhuangzi and Descartes...
Philosophy
Deception from the Land of Nod
Today is the first day of classes and every fall, I teach logic at 8:00 in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Living an hour from campus and realizing that in order to get anything done during the day, the only way to secure a block of uninterrupted time is to arrive before the campus rouses, I get up early. I mean early. I'm an atheist, but have no problem describing the hour I awake as ungodly.
So, I was horrified when this morning I looked at the alarm clock to see it read 7:15. Two words go through your mind. One of them is "holy" and the other one decidedly isn't. Like grieving, there is a process in cases like this and the stages are fixed. First there is panic. The heart thumps, the stomach falls, the back of the neck get s hot. Late on the first day of classes. A big no-no. Then there is denial. "Maybe I can make it if I..." Next comes the blame. "Who messed with the clock? Was it TheWife, the short people?" Then doubt. "Did I set it for p.m, not a.m.?" We move to the consideration of alibis, "how can I squirm out of this?" and then finally onto acceptance.
Having gone through all of the stressful stages, it was with complete acceptance that I walked to my car in the morning sunlight -- something I usually do not see -- when unexpectedly, the real alarm went off. It had all been a dream. My mind was messing with me. At times like this, one word goes through your mind and it isn't "holy." Yes, I would not have to deal with being late, but there is still a deep sense of annoyance at having to have gone through what I did for no good reason.
It is hard not to play the Freudian game of trying to create just-so stories to explain the meaning of such dreams. But even if we do not attribute subconscious meaning to these events, is there some way in which they serve us?
- Gendering Leisure
TheWife and I took the short people rollerskating yesterday. Everyone had a good time, but noticed something odd. The place was 4:1 girls to boys. I had noticed something similar, although not that stark at other roller rinks. When did skating become...
- The Value Of False Rituals
TheWife loves rituals. She finds great meaning in them, even if they are new rituals that she or we are inventing for our family as we go. I, on the other hand, have never been one for rituals. They've always seemed like inauthentic actions performed...
- Larceny Week: Gwydion On Dreams
One of the great things about having had a dear friend for thirty five years is that you can steal one of his really good blog posts and know that he won't get too angry at you. Now that Gwydion has taken his blog dark for a while, there's a wonderful...
- Deja Vu: Sir, Yes, Sir
So the official response to the massacre and cover up in Haditha is...wait for it..."core values training on moral and ethical standards on the battlefield". Now, I have no battlefield experience myself, but I am a veteran of the fight over core values...
- Meaning Of Dreams In Philosophy - Is Reality A Dream?
For many centuries the phenomenon of dreams has been used as an evidence for great limitations of the human mind. Dream argument is one of the oldest arguments concerning philosophy of mind; numerous thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Zhuangzi and Descartes...