10.10.2007

The 'Welcome' Screen

Why is it that when I turn my computer, it wishes me, "Welcome"?

What an appropriation that seems. It is as if the computer engineers actually believed that the non-space of the operating system were the privileged world, & that I am simply a visitor to their ethereal realm. As if the only world wasn't the world of air, earth, fire, water that I move in, but actually that this intellectually wrought imaginary world of their creation, complete with its spatial and temporal metaphors, was actually in some sense, more authoritative.

As I understand it, I sit in the real world observing a screen that displays a complex system of allegory, that I (still independent of the system), can then sift through at my leisure.

Should I not be welcoming the computer into existence as I draw electricity surging through its circuits, bringing it into operation? Not the other way around? It seems to me that there is a clear subversion of agency here, manifested in that one word, "Welcome".

I may have bought the computer, set it up, and turned it on, but according to its programming anyways, it is the host, and I the guest.

The Mind and the Body - a little spiritual rant

Yeah true, I get a bit heavy sometimes . . . but I wrote this the other day & thought maybe people would like to read it.

The world is plural & has multiple meanings and interpretations in the mind, but in the body it has unity & universality. For this reason, wisdom is found in a balance between the mind & the body's observations - little justice can be found in universal rules & narratives, but confusion & hollow placelessness is found in the exclusive acceptance of multiplicity.


Both the acknowledgment of universality & of plurality are important in life. They are mutually stabilizing.

There are two ways of understanding the relationships between these acknowledgments: either complex, paradoxical plurality exists within universal reality, or the appreciation of plurality exists above or external to the whole.

I think both of these models have their share of accuracy, & neither of them sums up the relationship perfectly. In the one model, the stable and inclusive whole contains an inherent complexity, rife with internal contradictions. In the other model, the complexity perceived by the intellect exists 'in addition to' the central kernel of stability perceived by the body [including the physical matrix of reality].

While understanding & perceiving the connectedness of things allows us both to love unconditionally & safely in addition to developing a sense of position in the cosmos, the mind's ability to perceive difference allows us to accept others, demonstrate humility, & make decisions that are rational, pragmatic, & fair.

Picture of carrot slice by Mimi_K