elective affinities

Elective Affinities by Rene Magritte

Yesterday, out of brain drain, I decided to take a short walk despite the horrid snow and bought a Rubik's cube and Yuval Noah Harari's "Sapiens." That's what happens when my mind gets fatigued--it craves even more self-inflicted torture.  Sapiens means wise in Latin.  So Homo sapiens literally translates to wise man. I'm only on page 9 of the book and I'm already captivated. Harari states "In Homo sapiens, the brain accounts for about 2-3 per cent of total body weight, but it consumes 25 per cent of the body's energy when the body is at rest."  I used to say our brain takes up about 20% of the stored energy in food that we consume...so it's apparently more than that. That's why I'm perennially exhausted. We're all perennially exhausted.  

I've been thinking--I've always been thinking. Thinking about things I should think about; yet, probably like most Homo sapiens, I wastefully think. It's a procrastinating kind of thinking. I'm not moving, but I'm thinking. I'm folding clothes and I'm thinking. I'm in the shower and I'm thinking. I'm walking home and I'm thinking. Imagine doing all those things with robotic wide eyes--being physically present but with your mind wandering. Somewhere unnecessary. Futile thinking. It's a bad habit.  I stand up as a distraction, do a bit of tippy toe action...pumping my gastrocnemius to aid the veins at my lower extremities. I breathe in deeply until I fill my inspiratory reserve volume then breathe out until I void my expiratory reserve volume. Anything to stop the superfluous thoughts. The thoughts aren't all that bad; most of the time the thoughts are nice. Nice thoughts, but just wasteful.

Harari also states, "The ability to create an imagined reality out of words enabled large numbers of strangers to cooperate effectively." And procrastinate gloriously. Like yours truly. I should get back to writing...oh wait, before I forget...so I rediscovered Adjustment Bureau last night and the last scene mentioned something related to free will...that we never know how to use it until we have to fight for it.  I tried to connect it to Disney's Moana theme where the song goes "Everything is by design...so maybe I can roll with mine...I'll be satisfied if I play along but the voice inside sings a different song, what is wrong with me?"

Odd connections, huh? A book, a science fiction movie, and a Disney film...oh and a surrealist work of art. Brain matter turning into mush, that's what it is.

Cheers.