After Bastian left, after we chatted about writting a "Magic for Dummies" book, I started thinking again and I find it funny to wonder what will people think of my thoughts.
Thinking about thoughts, now that's an interesting notion. Probably much more logical than fighting for peace, which, seems to me, is a little like dancing about poetry -- which could actually be fun, but that's another question alltogether.
Anyway, I was wondering about a silly riddle I heard (no idea where, but it stuck to my mind) "How many sides does a sphere have?"
Answer: Two. The inside and the outside.
Whoever came up with this answer indicates a surprising ability for creative and non-linear though which is a real fun trait to have, but unfortunately can make you be hard to undestand by others.
So I started to think... by that line of though a cube has eight sides and not six. I must start looking beyond the surface to appreciate all the dimentions: and this applies to a situation, people, problems and so on. As much as we want to be PC, the truth is we care too much about appearances. It's all about the looks and the sex and the lack of love. Or maybe it's just the hormones.
And maybe it's the drugs.
And maybe it's the videos.
And maybe it's the movies.
And maybe it's the poverty.
And maybe it's the wealth.
And maybe it's the rock and roll.
Or maybe, God doesn't play dice with the universe and that's for Him to know and for you to find out.
*heavily underlined*
"I've been looking for so long at these pictures of you that I almost believe that they're real."
- The Cure
What you see is what you get , or maybe not. You don't see the sides of a sphere, but they are still there. Okay, so you might see PART of the outside, but not all at the same time unless you destroy the sphere and then, well, it defeats the purpouse for it won't be a sphere any more but an evolution (or devolution) of a sphere.
Just because you can't see things, doesn't mean they're not there.
It's not that farstretched to think of the proverbial two sides of a coin: what you can see and what you can't see. They both exist, independently of your perception of them. I mean, it's as if a blind man claimed that because he couldn't see the sky, it didn't existed.
The duality of visible\invisible, was in some places stretched to good and evil. Male and female. Day and night. Light and dark. Yin and yang. Right and wrong.
Righ and left.
We have two hands, two feet, two eyes, two lungs, two kidneys and two ovaries. And we're not the only ones, even the simplest vertebrate show bilateral biogeometry. For some reason, however, we only have one heart and it's not geometrically placed in the center of the chest, but rather to the left side.
This is because reflections are deceptive: believe what you see, and you'll surely get the wrong impression.
Our organs are placed in a reflective position towards their counterparts... as if one was the reflection of the other, as in a mirror, by their aspect and position. I don't like mirrors. Not because they reflect what you are, but because they fool you into believing that ,while in truth they reflect the opposite of what you are. The problem is when the mirrors are in your own perceptions -- and instead of seeing things for what they are, you see them for what you think they are. One might fancies oneself to be the hunter -- only to very suddenly find out one is the prey, and instead of being a mighty conqueror, you wake up one morning to find out that you were actually only part of the loot.
You don't have to be Sun Tzu to realize that being mislead by your perceptions is a very big mistake from a strategic POV. Rule number one of all confrontations: be aware of your surroundings at all times.
Of course, our passion and obcession for what we can see comes, as Goethe, very well put it "Thinking is more interesting than knowing but less interesting than seeing." Gotta see it to believe it, baby!
Paradoxes lie in our faulty perceptions. Common sense is wrong. Even a reflection is relative. Alice does well in wondering if the milk she finds when she travels through the looking glass is good to drink. It most certainly isn't for subatopmic particles have their opposite anti-particles.
And when the two meet -- they anihilate each other.
In legends, many mages and witches will feel unconfortable around mirrors (not sure how the Hermetics feel about it). I think this is because they are seeing that which can utterly destroy them. It's a belief deeply ingratiated in several cultures of magic users, and it might be truer than most people would think.
Of course, all cultures respect and fear magic users, while at the same time considering them utterly insane. While some might argue that insanity is a logic reaction to an illogical situation, the truth is that, yes, we're all insane. We don't play with a full deck, and all our cards are blanks.
Now stop and ponder on what Dracula says through the pen of Bram Stoker: "I may gain more knowledge out of the folly of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise"
Some say that there is a thin line between genius and insanity. I'm not that sure there is a line at all. The question is, can we separate genius from madness or are they inseparable? Two sides of a same coin (see the duality even here?)? Can we have one without the other?
In the end is ridiculous to try to sepparate the two. The borderlines overlap. Either the lines are blurred or they don't exist. The truth is, we WANT to retain that spark of madness.
We just want to focus it.
Control it.