i chanced upon an article in Time (or was it Newsweek?) that explored the psychology of the human mind and the experience of the paranormal. according to that article, the mind had a propensity to fill in the gaps, to make sense of patterns, to find "figures in the shadows", so to speak. to some extent, it was like saying that imagination--even the quest for meaning--was hardwired into our physiology.
i just had a similar experience of pattern-recognition. as i was reading through etty hillesum's "an interrupted life", i began to recognize the particular genre of literature that has molded my mindset. i think i have a predilection for mystico-existentialist literature. i have googled my memory for the authors who have been my personal mentors--rilke, heidegger, frankl, clarke, dostoevsky, thoreau--and i begin to see coincidences that are meaningful.
well, this is not really a big deal for most people. but this fills me with strange delight and i just feel like i have to record this.
4 comments:
hi pochee. I like this post...parang "You fail to grasp" pero hindi...hehe. etty hillesum's memoir is awesome. read it sometime ago, hindi ko pa natapos, bits and pieces lang pero i was so moved. I remember a part where she writes to God saying how he doesn't have the power to do something about their situation (they were in a concentration camp) but she writes "all that we can do is to safeguard that little part of ourselves that is yours." Or something like that. Given the context where she wrote that, Im simply blown away.
blown away pala ha? hehehe. may pagka-you fail to grasp tone ba? wahahaha. na-iinspire nga ako sa writings nya. remember that part where she describes her encounter with S. hahaha. chiller din pala 'to si etty. hahahaha
si S ba yung parang naging mentor niya or something na lover din?
yup, si spier. the palm reader, touchy-feely shrink. na pinagpapantasyahan ni etty. hahaha.
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