Paper sculptures by Jen Stark
I don’t know about people, but I’ve definitely been into clouds lately.
But the clouds that really stole the show were at Lollapalooza in Grant Park Chicago on Friday August 5. They seemingly coordinated with the music, dancing in the sky.
Are we prisoners of perception?
A friend of mine noted how a dog can’t help but to hide itself during a storm, since its limited knowledge makes it impossible for the dog to rationalize, and therefore feel comfortable with, the cause of flashing light and loud, rumbling thunder. The dog does not perceive enough information to make sense out of the situation and let it be, so its instincts lead the canine to be scared. The dog doesn’t understand, and therefore cannot control its reaction.
Similarly, when I was young, my limited knowledge would cause me to have impulses to open chests, check the closet for monsters, to touch a certain object to feel its texture. I would make myself do it. Sometimes the little man in my head would tell me that if I didn’t, something bad would happen to me. Because I did not understand what is uniformly true about the world, did not understand what mysteries could possibly lie in every crevice and corner, I let my impulses lead the way. I would go off course just to make sure that old red trunk really didn’t have any treasures in it, because at that age, you’re constantly surprised at what is and is not reality.
I was playing with early feelings of impulse. Why was I so convinced that if I didn’t follow my impulse to put 3 leaves in my pocket and keep them there till the end of the day, that something bad was going to happen to me? Even though I don’t forcefully make myself climb up a fence to see what happens, or jump on the bridge to make sure it doesn’t bend, or turn on the sink 3 times before I use it, like I used to, I’m still a prisoner of limited knowledge. Like the dog who hides during the storm, when we don’t understand something, we will automatically revert to instinctual impulses to deal with the situation. Impulses that we are prisoners to, but in the end, only set us free.
I’m proud to say my close friend Alex Schoeffner is responsible for creating the image above,
and that Lauren Hansen is responsible for creating the page I link to below.
http://redrockcola.tumblr.com/
psychedelic nugget^^
