Socializing as Trance State

Last night I was out at a small social event. Several of the people there I knew, most of them I didn't. And it struck me, hardly for the first time, how people socializing at such an event give the impression of verging on an altered state of consciousness.

Watch them socializing, talking, flirting, chatting, laughing. Look at how they seem to be beside themselves, as if channeling something or someone else. As if they're not quite present to themselves, taken out of themselves, almost in a state of ecstasy or (in the ancient Greek) ekstasis. Ekstasis: "to be or stand outside oneself, a removal to elsewhere."

Yeah, watch people socializing, and you may notice how they seem almost to be in a trance.

Same physical signs as a trance state: lips parted and full, eyes shining but vacant with heavy lids, skin flushed and ruddy, head held back at a characteristic tilt. Speech often more echoic than expressive, with a characteristic lilt and syllabic segmentation, repetitive, shuttling rapidly between languor and giddy near-hysteria. No, I'm not a physical anthropologist or anything. But if you know what to look for, the signs are plain as day.

I'm not entirely joking. Watch next time you're at a social event. See if the people around you, as they get more and more animated, seem to be kiting along almost in a trance state, as if they're not quite themselves, no longer standing with both feet firmly planted within ordinary consciousness.

Light Switches

Several places around my house there are lights which are connected to two different light switches, at either end of a staircase or at either side of a large room. So you can turn the light on or off by flicking either switch.

Whoever installed these switches had keen insight into human psychology. Because with each pair of switches, when the light is off one switch is upward and the other switch is downward. Yes, that's the right way to do it. Because imagine if lights off meant both switches upward or both switches downward: imagine how us compulsive-obsessive types would then feel driven always to have both switches pointing in the "correct" direction when lights were off!

Ferns

I was in town the other day and I picked up two large pots of ferns, to put in the wicker planter in my living room. The wicker planter that is part of the wicker furniture set in my living room, the furniture which I inherited some years back.

Anyhow. Ferns. This will be the third or fourth time in the past couple of years that I've tried growing ferns in my living room. I've never had much luck with ferns. They last a while, then they wither up and die on me. Last time around, they in fact lasted only a matter of weeks, and I left the dead ferns sitting there for the better part of a year before I got around to replacing them.

Now this time we shall see how long the ferns last. Sunlight, it said on the tag that they need "medium light." Which these, sitting right by a window, get. Though I thought ferns do okay even in the shade? Water, I suspect in the past I've watered my ferns too much, so I'm trying this time not to do that too much. Instead am spraying the leaves with mist, a trick I've found on a number of websites out there.

Warning, I do not have a green thumb, and I've never had much luck with plants, period. But I seem to do especially poorly with ferns. This time around... we shall see.

News Report as Mental Cartoon

When I hear local news reports on the radio, I tend to see in my mind these stock, more or less cartoonish images. Images which repeat themselves time and again, I suppose because the same elements turn up so often in local news stories time and again.

So-and-so "lost control of the car": The steering wheel suddenly comes off in the horrified driver's hands, completely detached from the steering column.

The car "left the road at a high rate of speed": The wheels fold up into the body of the car as it lifts off into the air, like a VTOL aircraft, with flames roaring out of rocket ports in back.

Police "charged the driver with inattentive driving": (1) Driver reading a paperback, ignoring everything else as the car barrels down the road on autopilot. (2) Police are delivering an electric jolt to the apprehended driver with a taser-like device as they "charge" him (zap!) for his driving.

The robber "displayed a gun to the bank teller": A smiling robber holds up a gun which is locked inside a portable glass and wood display case.

The robber then "fled the scene": With the stationary robber's feet churning in place, windmill-like, for several seconds before he suddenly takes off like a shot, just like the way they always depict a cartoon character who is starting to run.

The victim "was pronounced dead at the hospital": A bishop in full regalia, wearing a bishop's miter on his head, is chanting a formula out of a liturgical book ("Hoy-yi-yi-yi-yi!") as the deceased, lying in a hospital bed, calls out, "I'm not dead yet!" But, you see, the bishop is "pronouncing" him dead...

The victim "was dead": Is lying there flat on his back, with his hands folded across his chest holding an Easter lily.

The victim "passed away": Holding an Easter lily on his chest, he suddenly levitates into the air and goes gliding silently out the window, floating off toward an undisclosed destination.

The victim "passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family": The family is standing in a circle, all around the bed, wearing simpering moronic smiles as the deceased, clutching an Easter lily to his chest, suddenly levitates into the air and goes gliding out the window.

So-and-so "was suspended with pay pending an investigation": Hanging by a pulley from the ceiling, suspended in mid-air, a hook through the back of his suspenders, while he clutches a wad of bills in his hand.

Asparagus

So where's the asparagus out beside the old garage? Usually by early May it's coming up. But not a stalk in sight yet.

I even put some fencing around that patch by the side of the garage, to keep the fellow I hire to mow my lawn from mowing over it, as has happened a few times in years past, and there goes the asparagus. Verbal requests don't work, gotta put up some fencing. Which I did this year, and he's steered clear.

But still no asparagus. Not so far this spring.

Clowns

Omigosh. I just remembered what a phobia I used to have of clowns back when I was a kid. Not just a fear, an outright phobia. Clowns were evil. Clowns were scary. Clowns were like... worse than monsters! I even used to have nightmares about clowns.

The odd thing is, fear of clowns turns out to be not uncommon. But I didn't know that back then. All I knew was... I was terrified of clowns.

Walking Around

So... lately I've been getting out and walking. That means walking down the road a ways, down to where I get to a certain gate into a pasture, and then turning around and walking back up the road again to my house.

Gravel road, have to wear shoes that will do for walking on gravel. Little traffic, fortunately. Now and then I do wave at the passing pickup.

It sure beats riding my exercise bike in the house, as I was doing (okay, well, doing on and off) through the winter months. Right now we're at the perfect time of the year for walking outdoors for exercise. Hope I can keep it up, motivation and all. And hope I can keep it up as we get into the hotter months of the summer.