Myriat

[myriat]

Focacetic

Focacetic: adj. Describing that activity which demands such focus as to cause one to develop a tension headache. 

Focache: n. a tension headache brought on by excessive focus.

[myriat]

Meta-School (Mnemonics are Fundamental)

There are a variety of memory systems. I daresay the mechanics of memory systems are unique to just about every individual who uses one. This is because they all rely so heavy on personal connections.

The question is, why? Because all memory experts agree that personal connections are stronger and more permanent. If reliable, verifiable, repeatable systems can be built using personal connections, why would you use impersonal ones? The only reason is for teaching, not learning.

But demonstrating personal connections and the use thereof can be extremely instructive. It is unnecessary to give premade mnemonics to a student if the student understands the theory and application of mnemonics, and has been encouraged to foster the habit. But if a mnemonic is given without the understanding of mnemonics, it is merely another impersonal connection.

Yet to the extent mnemonics have made their way into educational practice, this is exactly how it has been done. Almost always, these devices are alphabetical, which is indeed a sensible device - provided one is a strong verbal learner. Almost always, they are presented as a rote trick, unique to the particular situation. It is a unique instructor who takes the time to explain mnemonics itself, and rarer still the one who encourages students to creatively combine their own.

I think it is more important we teach this skill even than the skill of reading. But we ignore it almost completely. Perhaps the alphabet is the best we can do on an impersonal level, but for the bulk of learners, it hardly allows them to operate at their best.

A memory system that saw common usage among the Ancient Greeks involved using the layout of one’s home as a mental pegboard for the layout of ideas. This powerful system allowed some of the greatest orators of all time to present complex ideas with authority, seemingly off the cuff.

For the learner with a strong spatial sensibility, this is a system that could frequently be taken advantage of. Extrapolating its concept allows for the whole of the theories of geometry, architecture, and landscaping to be used as a meta-system for learning and mental management.

We need not teach architecture to young students. But we do need to teach and encourage them to use mental spatial models, and to use geometric ideas to examine non-geometric concepts.

I believe meta-systems – of which the alphabet and numerical system are merely examples – should be an integral part of early education. I believe we should be designing and disseminating meta-models that demonstrate how to use personal connections, and encouraging students to use them.

I believe we should attempt to keep a commons library, like Wikipedia, where we can find and share such models, organized as best as possible by concept and conception.

It seems we live in a world where artists try to hide their complex considerations in ambiguity, and educators fail to recognize the power of creativity in the examination of concepts. For some students, there is a need for creativity, even in learning some concepts that would be considered basic by most.

We must take the best from both worlds. From the world of formal education, we must keep a desire for rigor, the measurement of function, the details of pedagogies for their demonstrative content, and the keen regard for clarity. But we must lost a sense of final authority, the habits that degrade the intellectual authority of students, and a slavish regard for form without function.

From the artistic world, we must keep the sense of personal value, of creative authority, of the value of refinement of craft for craft’s sake. We must also keep the creative freedom that allows deep examination of personal, social, and cultural ideas without the need to come to actionable conclusions. We must, however, lose conceit, self-indulgence, the desire for accolades, and a slavish regard for craft without consideration for content.

In other words, we must recognize that learning is a combination of art and purpose. We must embrace this reality, instead of avoiding it with every institutional decision. In the Renaissance, an understanding of art, science, practice and education as all part of the same continuum led to a cultural explosion in all of these directions. 

[myriat]

Dream, Oct. 10, 2013

My intention was self-hypnosis, in order to encourage more silence/listening. Instead, I fell asleep, and dreamed I was in a hospital[?]. At some point, I was sitting between two people, on perhaps a shuttle, but it felt like an elevator. We were being transported to some location. I looked down at my hands and noticed that my fingers were disfigured and misshapen, they looked quite horrible. But I realized this was an illusion, I remember thinking, "this must be the weed... i've never had marijuana give me hallucinations before... this must be some wacky stuff." I forced myself to look at my hand clearly, willing myself to see a normal hand, which I did for a moment. Then it went back to the disfigured illusion. The man on my right (who I did not recognize) saw me looking at my hands and held his out. They, too, were terribly disfigured. He half-grinned and said, "We all need the doctor, right?"

At another point in the dream, I was in a dilapidated stairwell that I knew led to the basement. I could not decide between running down and hiding in the basement, or going out into the hospital lights on the floor I was on. I do not know why I was frightened.

[myriat]

Is Love of Money the Root of Evil?

Is love of money the root of evil?

Words grow on thoughts and thoughts are inevitable. Thus, words are easy to spend and of little value for trade. It does no good to judge a man by his words, for words can lie and mostly do. 

But the value of words to one are great, for with words, one may breed idea with idea and give birth to revelation. This is why while words may not be good, love of words can have great value.

Money is the substance of trade. It has no substance in and of itself, but its value in trade is that its only value is in trade. If money is evil, then trade is evil.

Money does not lie.

No one spends one's money on the things one is against, nor keeps a portion of change from the desperate need of their beloved. 

The way one spends one's money reveals one's love. The way one handle's one's money reveals one's values.

A man says, "I hate life," but spends all his money on survival. How much then must he hate death? 

If a woman says, "I love books," but cannot afford books because she spends all her money on children, how much must she love her children?

If a man guards his money from one he calls friend, how much do you think he values his friend? It can be measured in the value of money - which to one, is none.

If a man spends his money just to gather more money, what is the value of that which he loves? And what is the value of his love?

This is not taut enough for proof, but I believe this truth: Love is the father of good. Money without value is the mother of evil.

[myriat]

I search within...

I search within for my deepest dishonesties and discover I cannot trust even myself — but I try to meet you as openly as I can, without sword or shield, without the need to conquer or the desperate desire to defend. I fight the urge to conclude and to judge. With the fire of my passion and my fashion I try to light my way without setting the forest ablaze.

But I will leave ashes, despite my care, despite my philosophies of compassion and context, despite the best of my Boy Scout creeds and efforts, I will damage, I will change, I will disturb peace with the nature of my flame. For though the mind is game, and the spirit is tame, the man is animal, and the body knows nothing of names.

[myriat]

[mysticmadman]

collapse

Brittle is the substance of deceit, and cracks flee patterns from the liar’s feet.

Long enough he walks, the patterns meet. The street falls through the weight of his conceit.

[myriat]

[myriat]

Institutionalization

An individual's self-identification is rarely either static or simple. An individual's identification of others, on the other hand, can often be simple, and is usually fairly static.

This is because we identify ourselves by our mental landscape, and our perceived self-potential, but we tend to identify others functionally, within the domains of activity we observe.

A sense of functional self-identity expands as we operate on an expanding range of functions. Therefore, the scope of self-identity broadens. While one sees oneself in all functions of life, one sees others in limited domains. When an entity becomes aware that another's image of that entity is more narrow than the entity's idea of self, a feeling of minimization, disrespect, or perceived offense often occurs.

This tendency to identify individuals functionally will therefore result in a disconnect and potentially an emotional conflict.

This disconnect, especially when stimulated by repeated reinforcement (see Trance Theory), is a leading factor in the problem of institutionalization.

Institutionalization is best described as the erosion of a free sense of self as choices become limited by systematic (or institutional) expectations.

This limiting of choice is an illusion, psychologically enforced by an (often subconscious) expectation of outcomes dependent on the actions of others. These expectations mold the actions of the individual in a way that may be dissonant with the individual's motivations, intentions, or desires.

When this dissonance reaches a level unacceptable to the entity, the entity will attempt to resolve the dissonance. The nature of this resolution is unpredictable and dependent on the nature of the entity.

[myriat]

Convergence vs Divergence

Activities of all types consist of both convergent and divergent processes.

Converging processes (convergent thinking) are those processes which lead to a single solution or outcome or point. The scientific method represents a particular iteration of this concept (as it seeks to converge upon the fewest necessary hypotheses for the greatest predictive advantage).

Divergent processes (divergent thinking) are those processes which begin from a single question or problem or point, and lead out what we might call creatively from this place of origin. The Socratic method is an excellent example of this process, as it seeks no final or single hypothesis, but instead uses each proposition as a springboard for conceptual examination and ideation.

We see this dichotomy of process play out in the studies of innovation and productivity. Innovation relies on idea generation, a divergent process. But productivity values efficiency. Efficiency requires a codification of and reliance on repeatable, convergent activities.

The success of the practical application of the scientific method has led to an almost worshipful admiration within our culture for convergent processes. Divergence, on the other hand, remains under-appreciated, and its workings largely a mystery. Over time, this schism has grown in the subconscious of our society. A loose understanding of these principles combined with an organizational lack of faith in the practicality of divergence has led to the systematic devaluation of that mental type best described as the dreamer.

Our cultural concepts of success and failure lean heavily on the ability to identify a useful, repeatable, convergent outcome. We do not have a clear concept of divergent success as a society... Instead, we rely on outwardly spectacular, creatively brilliant, or highly charismatic figures to stand as loosely examined icons or archetypes of activities that we can not define in a way that satisfies our (faulty) cultural standards.

As the Renaissance evolved into the Enlightenment and then the Modern Age, the value of art and creativity for its own sake has culturally diminished. This has begun to become an educational dilemma. Without the element of innovation, productivity cannot reach its full potential over time. At the center of this dilemma is the challenge of a growing global paradigm concerning "progress" that rests on unbalanced assumptions.

Cultural bias has caused us to misinterpret historical figures and their impact on our own technological progression. An example is the figure of Thomas Edison, whose constant application of that divergent activity known as invention has been heralded as a scientific success rather than a creative one.

If we wish to educate a generation capable of producing more figures like Edison, and almost every other "intellectual giant" in history, more value must be placed in education on the underlying processes of the activity, whether they be convergent or divergent.

The foremost conclusion to be taken from this: An educational system should be more firmly rooted in dissemination and analysis of process than in measurement of convergent result.

[myriat]

Tartaria Tablets

[myriat]

Gradeshnitsa Tablet

[myriat]

Trance Theory

Both the human body and the human mind are designed to adapt themselves to human activity. They do this by creating subconscious, automated routines.

The action of these subroutines has been described by Dennis Wier in a a model which he calls "trance theory." (His book can be found here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/9704816/A-Suggested-Model-for-Trance)

Trance theory stipulates that creating a cycle of repeated action causes two things to happen:

1.) It causes the repeated activity to become more automatic in its response to stimuli.

2.) It causes conscious awareness of the activity to decrease.

Because of this effect, the human body and human mind often become, whether by design or accident, in large part automated responses to stimuli.

A dilemma of attention is created by this effect. The conscious mind is still capable of responding (consciously, by choice) to stimuli, but because of the nature of the effect, the subject has become less aware of its own activity.

This is a necessary effect for the handling of such a complex organism. Without conscious application, however, an organism gives up the potential power to shape its own automated activity. Understanding and applying the effect consciously can further maximize the ability of the organism to operate efficiently on its environment in a manner directed by the consciousness of the organism rather than at the whim (or direction) of environmental factors.

[mysticmadman]

wedded

The dark and the light, the active and the passive, the male and the female, the alive and the dead - these have their marriage in every entity. In all planes, in all passages, they have their flirtations.

Who would tell the lovers how to copulate? By the nature of attraction is the character of union decided.

[definitive]

[ljubavbombu-deactivated20130404]

I don’t remember all my dreams last night but I slightly remember the one I had the moment before I woke up. As usual, I don’t know how to describe this but ok, in my dream so many natural disasters were happening in the world and I was observing this creature of some sort.. it was a tall,...

[myriat]