Monday, March 5, 2012

The Existential Closet


"Keep all these clothes," Morpheus says to me this morning in my closet, "and the story ends...Get rid of some of these clothes and you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.


It's a tempting offer, isn't it? For at one time or another in our lives, we've all wanted to throw out the clothes that don't fit us anymore - from the dull jeans to that ridiculous blouse we bought.

What were you thinking with this little ensemble, by the way?"  

"Shut up, Morpheus." 

Perhaps it's for reasons such as holding onto outdated, out-of-fashion, two-sizes-too-small clothing that our culture has become positively obsessed with the idea of transcending the confines of this closet for another. Whether it's by getting rid of some of these clothes, a secret wardrobe, a looking glass, or a rabbit-hole, it doesn't really matter. We take it.


This is because the circuitry control of our brains live in The Matrix of Novel Thought. It is here that once we've "been there, done that", even if only in our minds, that our brain leaves and takes flight in search of fueling that innate learning mechanism in our heads that feeds on novelty. 



Everything we do or think about is predetermined in our minds because we have already "thought" forward to the endgame before the moment we start to embark upon a goal (a biological reflex is our body processing information at hyper speed). 


The brain then perceives each predetermined goal (I'm going to send a text message) as already having been attained and therefore has to search deeper for novel experiences to facilitate the act of execution. 


The act of executing any action requires self-story telling to convince the brain to reengage and "do it again."  The brain's "death is in the details" circuitry has to be emotionally inspired or guilted into action; and the brain's executive center has to "buy into it" or it doesn't happen. 



Language frees us to understand our literal experience of life whereas emotions free us to understand our subjective ones. Synthesization of the two results in consciousness of one's self and one's closet. 


What's in your existential closet?

Are you willing to empty it? 













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