Back to the word “ultimately” again. Ultimately there would seem to be an explanation for existence itself. And ultimately there must be a way to connect the dots between that and my own individual existence. And, throughout the course of human history, there have been hundreds and hundreds of “isms” [both religious and secular] that claimed their own “ultimately” was the right one.
And I used to be a part of a few of them myself. Just not anymore. I don’t feel connected to either an ontological or a teleological universe. And the older I get the more inclined I am to accept that on this side of the grave I have run out of “ultimatelys”. I can only speculate on the possibility that there is something on the other side that will allow me to continue my search for the optimal ultimately or the only rational ultimately of all. Or is that – the rational – missing the whole point of what ultimately “all there is” is all about?
Yes, over the years I have come upon [or read about, or saw through the media] many, many people who have had similar “out of this world” experiences. But I have never had one myself. But since the existence of existence is to me [by itself] a very, very spooky thing, nothing is beyond possibility. Including God. Or Goddesses. Again, all I can hope for is that those who have had these experiences can think up a way such that I might share them as well. Otherwise what else is there? We believe what we do based on the experiences that we have. So, if others don’t have those experiences themselves, how are those who have had them able to provide them for those who have not as well?
Trust me: you have a way with words. They certainly grab me. And I would imagine they would grab others. And it is precisely the way in which you capture things like nature in such intimate detail without the ability to see it that would be of great interest to others. In other words, you clearly seem to communicate with and through nature in ways that seem far more spontaneous and confident and loving than those who do see it. In fact, it’s what sighted people can learn from you about a trek into the woods that would no doubt fascinate them the most.
Okay, how about braille. I imagine a discussion between you, having been born blind, and someone who was sighted for years going blind and having to learn braille. I try to imagine myself learning to use it. What is the experience of using braille like for you? Is almost everything that sighted people are able to read available in braille? Are there things about it that most sighted people would be unfamiliar with?
Known as the Braille Challenge, it’s a competition that is run annually at the Los Angeles Braille Institute for students who are blind. Thousands of students from the US and Canada test their braille skills in categories such as reading comprehension, proofreading and spelling."
Anything like that in England?
Well, if you ever do get closer to capturing it in words please bring them here. I know there are experiences that people have that I do not have. Experiences that bring them closer to a path that allows them to feel embedded in something bigger than they are. It’s a frame of mind – a reality – I’d do almost anything to experience again. I’m glad that you have it yourself.
Is it really so important that we understand the ultimate meaning of existence? If we ever find out what it is, what do we do then? I would say that the journey is the important thing, rather than the destination.
With regard to spiritual and mystical experiences, those that I’ve had tend to happen at specific places and times. The Malvern Hills, for example, are the site of an ancient beacon fire, specifically, in this case, the Worcestershire Beacon. In ancient times, beacons were not lit simply to signal danger, but were kept alight at all times, as sacred fires. Other places where I’ve had similar experiences were also either ancient beacons, or stone circles, or both. What all of these sites have in common is that our ancestors recognised them as sacred, where powerful earth energies converge, and where local folklore speaks of strange happenings even today. In my case, I only experience things like that in winter, which is why I prefer it for camping, and at night, but I’m sure others differ in that regard.
As with pretty much everything, the experiences of those born blind, and those who lose their sight, with regard to Braille are very different. For me, it’s how I learnt to read, and is therefore second nature, but a lot of people who lose their sight in adulthood are never able to learn it at all, because their fingers never become sensitive enough. There is, however, an alternative system of tactile writing that’s available for those people, called Moon, which consists of raised shapes. With the emergence of assistive technology of so many different kinds, however, people can get by far more easily without it.
Braille, of course, is made up of raised dots. These are arranged in cells, which may contain up to six dots, making 64 possible characters (though the empty one is simply a space). In addition to letters, there are also various items of punctuation. Numerals are designated by the same characters as the first ten letters, with an extra character before the number to indicate that it’s to be read as a number. Letters are turned into capitals with a another character before the letter, and so on.
That’s Grade 1 Braille, which is what you learn first, as it’s a lot simpler. Grade 2 Braille is the same, but with a lot of extra characters for common combinations of letters, such as “th”, “ch”, “and”, and many more. These contract the text to save space. There are also various Braille codings for music, maths notation, and so on, which use the same characters for different purposes, always making clear at the beginning which register is being used. Different languages also have somewhat different ways of arranging the characters as well. There is also a type of Braille using eight dots per cell, rather than six, usually found on refreshable Braille displays, such as the ones listed here.
I don’t know of any competitions specific to the UK, though here’s an article about an international competition called the Onkyo Braille Essay Contest.
It’s by no means the case that everything that’s available in print is available in Braille. The vast majority of books aren’t, for example. On the other hand, Braille pops up in places you might not expect, such as on buses and medicine packaging. Bank statements and similar documents are available in Braille (at least in the UK), and there are Braille magazines and newsletters. It’s a very elegant and versatile system of writing, but far more books are available in audio format, or as text files that can be read by screen readers, than are available in Braille. If I want to read something, such as a letter, all I have to do is put it in the scanner and the OCR (optical character recognition) software will convert it to a text file. If I really wanted to, I could even do this with a whole book, though it would take ages and probably involve taking the book apart at the seams. And most written communication, of course, takes place by email or by other electronic means, without the need for Braille at all.
Elegant and useful though it is, though, Braille is not my favourite system of tactile writing. That honour goes to runes. Runes, because of their angular shape, are far easier to distinguish from each other than the standard English alphabet. And runes, because they only consist of straight lines, can far more easily be inscribed, on wood for example, or metal. I have a number of items of silver jewellery with runic inscriptions on them, made for me at Pagan events. Runes are a very ancient system of writing, used by our ancestors for sacred or magical purposes, and this is very much part of their attraction for me. There is even a type of ritual where you assume the shape of individual runes with your body, to literally spell out a spell.
As for trying to explain my state of mind in my morning ritual, in the immortal words of Mike Pinder, how can I tell you all the things inside my head?
Again, as with most questions of this sort, discussions of them will revolve largely around the subjective prejudices of the individuals involved in the exchange. Rooted in my view in dasein. In other words, in the absence of a definitive understanding of what intertwines “all there is” and “I”, there is no right answer. For some, yes, it is important. That’s why things like God and religion are invented, in my opinion. To have that teleological foundation. Or, for the Humanists, things like political ideology. But, again, what intrigues me far more is not so much what someone believes but how, given the life they lived, they come to believe this and not that.
That others will differ would seem [to me] to derive first and foremost from the fact that they have not lived your life and had your experiences. And somehow you can either bring those experiences to them or they can attempt to replicate the experiences themselves. But even here they don’t have all the experiences from your past that created the conditions that predisposed you to embody yours. The only alternative would be to somehow prove that these experiences are based on some objective understanding of the world around us.
Sometimes though you have to just “go with the flow” of the experiences themselves. You have them. You react to them as you do. The reactions provide you with meaning and purpose in your life. “Let it be”, as the song says. It might be Mother Mary for some, but not for all.
Second nature. Yes, that’s the part that would seem to matter most. Everything you need to master braille becomes a part of your life from the moment that learning to read itself becomes a part of it. And then the explosion of technology. Audio books and all the rest. One can just imagine then what it must have been like years ago for those who were sighted for most of their life and lost their vision. You either learned braille [though I suspect with fewer publications around] or someone sighted would have to be willing to read for you.
Though my understanding of all this is still just rudimentary.
How often do you use braille yourself as opposed to the new technologies? Would you say you read at the speed of those who can see the words? Are there advantages to using braille that sighted people would not likely have thought of?
And then the question of access. Some of the technologies at Humanware cost as much 7,000 pounds. Are there organizations and government programs that allow those not able to afford such things on their own to gain access to them. For example, here most of the public libraries have any number of technological devices [from computers to audio books] available.
"The library has a collection of Braille picture books for preschool children. They can be used by a sighted child who is learning to read assisted by a blind parent or by a blind child who is learning Braille.
Materials available in large print include large-print books and digital e-books and e-magazines that allow the reader to change the font size and other display settings. Audiobooks are available on CD and Playaways as well as in downloadable format."
“Another factor driving down the rate of Braille use is the fact that those who go blind later in life due to medical conditions, such as diabetes and macular degeneration, already have literacy skills and are therefore less likely to be inclined to learn a new writing system. ‘A sixty-year-old woman working who already knows how to read and write and then loses her vision, why does she need to learn Braille when she can keep going with technology?’ said Ms. Farrenkopf. She stresses that not all blind children need to be taught Braille.”
It is a whole other world for me. Not only in regard to the technique itself but with regard to the manner in which you intertwine it in a spiritual frame of mind which, again, is very mysterious to me. And it would be because my own experiences with going down a spiritual path revolved by and large around Christianity and the Unitarian Church.
Tell me more about the spells. Can you give me example of spells from your own life…or from your interactions with others in the Pagan community.
Of course, knowing me and my more philosophical bent, you might imagine that I would be attracted as well to this song: youtu.be/nkRlGY35aU4
Going with the flow, is, in my opinion, pretty much the single most important thing we can learn to do. Too often we expend energy swimming against the tide, all to no avail. If something is going to happen, it will, in one way or another.
By far the most common way I read things is with my screen reader, which includes books as text files, for example, and anything online. Then come audio books, recorded and narrated by an actual person. A distant third is reading anything in Braille, which, for the large part, is mostly confined to official letters. Which is certainly a bit of a shame in some ways, as nothing beats actually holding something in your hand as you’re reading it. Braille books are pretty huge though, in size, and can be a bit inconvenient. As for my reading speed, it’s pretty fast I would say, probably as fast as the average sighted person. One particular advantage of Braille (and, indeed, of being blind) is that you don’t need a light. If you’re in a tent out in the wilderness, for example.
As you say, the technology is not always cheap, but the RNIB do indeed give grants to those who are unemployed, to buy assistive technology. Not, admittedly, for something costing £7k, as they will always insist on providing the cheapest possible alternative, usually from the RNIB shop itself, which has a huge range of devices, both for blind people and those who are partially sighted.
I’ve never had to avail myself of such grants, though, as I’ve always worked, since leaving school. The RNIB also has its own Braille and audio library, and public libraries stock such items as well. This includes branch libraries, and, in particular, the central library in the city centre, which also has computers with screen readers. After well over a year, libraries are due to reopen again soon, too.
Yes, it’s something that has been raised a number of times in the blind community. Is Braille on the way out? That would certainly be a sad day, but I’m a little sceptical myself. As the article you linked points out, how would you teach blind kids to read, for example, if not with Braille? Writing is learnt on a keyboard, but reading is something else entirely. There’s no doubt, however, that the use of Braille will become increasingly less common in everyday life.
Having said that, perhaps they could teach kids runes instead, hehe. Thanks for the rune article, it’s very interesting. I had no idea that somebody else had even thought of using runes in this way. I like Braille because it appeals to my sense of order, with everything in its allotted place. With just six dots, arranged in a very limited number of patterns, you can create whole universes with words. But runes are different, and they appeal to me on a much more instinctive level, providing a spiritual link with our ancestors. In truth, of course, they wouldn’t be much good for teaching kids how to read, mainly because they are not really able to caputure all the subtlties and quirks of written English (or any other language, for that matter), especially with regard to punctuation. And this was never their purpose, either. Runes are found in Northern Europe, being particularly associated with the Pagan Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons. There are different versions of them too, and I favour the Anglo-Saxon ones, which, with 33 distinct runes, have more runes available than the other varieties. They were never used for writing out mundane stuff as we would use writing today, however. They were mainly used for magical charms and spells, and also for monumental inscriptions celebrating the deeds of some individual. A lot of jewelley from this period also bears the name of the owner, or maker, in runes.
I can give you a good example of a spell from my days in a Wiccan coven. The daughter of the high priestess had received an eviction notice from her flat, and needed somewhere to live, quickly. They called a coven meeting and did a spell for her to find a new place. The main part of the spell included cutting off a small piece of her hair, which was then burnt, along with chants to ask for the desired outcome. A couple of days later a few us, including the high priestess’s daughter, were attending a moot in a pub. She was standing at the bar and a complete stranger came up to her and asked her if she wanted to rent his flat from him while he was out of the country for a few months. That’s probably the best example of a very simple spell that worked really fast, exactly as desired. As it turned out, though, the flat wasn’t really suitable, but she stayed there a few weeks, nevertheless.
I prefer not to use the term “spell” these days (though I couldn’t resist the pun with regard to spelling out a spell), since leaving Wicca behind. Nor do I do spells like that any more, anyway, and it has to be said, that most of them were far less impressive in their immediate success than the one I mentioned above. My own spiritual practice is all about energy raising. In my morning ritual, for example, each time I kneel, touching the earth, I draw energy into myself, and each time I stand, I draw it upwards through my body, sending it forwards. In other words, I become a conduit. The runic posture rituals also do this, in different ways. Each rune shape absorbs and directs energy in a unique configuration, which is also the case when they’re inscribed.
This type of runic ritual is also sometimes known as runic yoga, and here’s a video of it. Perhaps you can describe it for me, and I’ll tell you if it’s the same as what I do.
From time to time, we all seem to be confronted with this dilemma: stick with what we have come to know or “move on” to something else. It all seems to revolve around both new experiences that can challenge what we think we know and then the options available to us to make any changes in our life. And no two individuals will ever be in exactly the same situation. That’s where the expression “a leap of faith” can come into play.
Actually, that is not all that far removed from the reaction many sighted people [including me] have to these new technologies. Reading the newspaper or a magazine or a book “online” or in the Kindle format…as opposed having the real deal in your hand. On the other hand, a whole lot less trees are felled for the new technologies. But that’s how these things go. Something new comes along to take the place of something old. And then for each of us, our reactions are often entirely individual. I like this but I don’t like that. And then just when you’re getting used to the new stuff, there’s another wave of even newer stuff to contend with.
Class will almost certainly never go away. But it’s nice to know there are organizations around to provide options for those who were not born on the “right side of the tracks”.
And thanks for including the link. If nothing else it gave me insights into the ways in which the blind can do the same things that sighted people do. With a little help from those who think up alternative options. From playing games and telling time to interacting with talking appliances in the kitchen. It prompts sighted people to think, “how would I do this or that if I couldn’t see”?
There aren’t many sports the blind don’t participate in. It’s just a matter of someone thinking up a way to do the same [or similar] things without the capacity to see. Using sound in particular.
I suppose the bottom line might be this: since you never know when the technologies might not be available or are lost [in a power outage for example], braille will always be an option. At least when it is available. And, as you noted, with braille, a power outage at night knocking out the light wouldn’t matter in the least.
After all…
"Braille started out as a military code.
The origins of braille come from the French army in 1819. Soldiers created a military code called ‘night writing’ so they could communicate in darkness without speaking."
Again, for me, it’s a whole other world. One in which I have had no personal experiences. I can only imagine it to the extent that you are able to explain [to the best of your ability] how it is experienced by you. On the other hand, few things fascinate me more that the fact that there are so many different ways in which to understand the world that we live in. Me, I always respect the fact that others live lives differently – sometimes very differently – from mine. What then matters to me is that they are tolerant of others who do not share their own understanding of things and that they strive above all to bring no further pain and suffering into this world. Or as little as possible given what I construe to be the “best of all possible worlds”: moderation, negotiation, compromise. In the face of what I call “conflicting goods”.
Again, a world far removed from my own experiences. Back in the days when I was a political activist, evictions were seen to be immoral…part and parcel of a system where those who owned the homes and apartments/flats had the power to throw people out into the street simply because the laws allowed them to. That, in other words, the solution was to create a whole new political dynamic where evictions became a thing of the past.
But, again, that’s just me given the life that I lived. I would never expect others who have lived very different lives to understand it. It all seems to me to be derived from the profoundly problematic parameters of the individual lives that we come to embody. Very different experiences in the world equals very different reactions to it.
Then it can only come down to the extent to which we can bridge the communication gap over time. Maybe, maybe not. If more no than yes, then a willingness to respect the differences.
What is important is that, through your experiences [before, during and after Wicca] you have now found a way of feeling connected to nature and through nature to the world around you. In a meaningful and purposeful way. Let that flow because it is now what makes the most sense to you…spiritually, intuitively, viscerally.
What else is there really for any of us?
The video begins with a young woman standing, facing the camera, in what appears to be the living room of a small [but cozy] flat. Behind her on the wall is a photograph of a whale.
Here is the sequence that she follows:
1] standing with her arms to her sides, facing forward, she raises her arms over her head
2] with her arms still over her head, she bends forward at the waist
3] with her hands flat, bent over, she brings them up her legs to her waist
4] still standing, she turns slowly to her left and raises her arms to the level of her face…she pauses for 2 to 3 seconds…then lowers her arms back down to her waist
5] she bends from the waist lowering her arms to the level of her ankles…a small pause…she then raises her arms to her waist
6] she turns to face forward again and raises her left arm bent at the elbow to her waist…only this time her hand is in a fist rather than flat
7] she turns again to her left and raises her arms…the right arm at a 90 degree angle, the left arm at a 45 degree angle
8] she turns to face forward again and brings her left arm bent to her waist, her hand in a fist…only this time she raises her left leg about a foot off the ground…she pauses for a couple of seconds then lowers her leg and arm
9] she turns once again to her left and raises her arms…only this time the right arm is raised further over her head, closer to 180 degrees…the left arm is still at 45 degrees
10] she turns to face forward and widens her leg stance while bringing her arms at her sides up to 135 degree
11] she lowers hers arms to her side and brings her legs together…she raises her left hand flat to her head
12] she brings her arm down, small pause, slight bow, then raises her left arm, hand flat, to her right shoulder
13] she lowers her arms, then raises both arms at her side…the left at 45 degrees the right at 135 degrees…longer pause then she lowers her arms to her side…still facing forward
14] she turns to the left and bends her arms at the elbow…the right arm raised to the side of her head, hand flat…the left to her hip
15] she lowers both arms to her side…then raises her left arm only to 90 degrees…she also raise her right leg to 90 degrees behind her body
16] then she drops to the floor sitting…she extends her arms bent at the elbow and her hands [flat] appear to be as though she is praying
17] she seems to sway forward slightly and then stands, turning forward again while raising her arms at her side over her head…both at 135 degrees straight…her legs are together…5 second pause
18] she turns to her left and then bends slightly
19] she stands straight turning forward, her arms to her side against her body…a slight head bow
20] standing forward she raises both arms at her side to 180 degrees
21] she lowers her arms…then with her left arm bent at the elbow she brings her left hand in a fist to her hip…she also bends her left leg slightly bring her left foot to her right foot
22] then standing straight, her arms to her side, she spreads her legs and squats…bringing her hands together at her bowed head as though in prayer…pause
23] she stands straight still facing forward and then brings her arms up over her head and then lowers them so that her hands seem to frame her face
24] she lowers her arms and turns to the left, bringing both arms forward to 90 degrees, her hands flat, touching…pause
25] she turns forward and arms bent at the elbow she brings her hands [flat] to her hip
26] she lowers her arms but then raises them again and crossing them at her chest, her hands flat touching her shoulders…pause
27] she brings her arms slowly down to her side and spreads hers legs a foot or so…then she raises her arms over her head bent at the elbow one hand [flat] over the other
28] she slowly lowers her arms down but then raises them up again over her head straight…she twists her hands and then bends over, her hands to the floor palms out
29] She then brings her hands slowly up her legs palms inward to her hips
“Pagan practice for the blind and visually impaired”
From the arie farnam by the hearth internet site
It notes that, as you pointed out, “Modern Pagans believe just about everything under the sun or none of it. What binds us together is what we do and how we live. Interpretations vary widely and practice is not exactly standardized, but there are some practices that are widespread for specific paths.”
Paths can be as individual as, well, individuals themselves.
"Getting into the practice, either alone or with a group, often requires physical movements and is aided by objects. I would argue that this is actually an ideal spiritual path for the blind and visually impaired because it can be very tactile and kinesthetic. You don’t spend much time sitting and listening to something you can’t see being done without you at the front of a crowd.
“My daily meditation of grounding and calling the quarters, for instance, directly impacts my ability to use echolocation and mental-mapping. It is like setting your brain to think in the spacial terms people with vision impairments so often use.”
The main thing I worry about with technology is becoming dependent on it. As you say, a powercut will knock most of it out immediately. Or even silly things like a computer breaking down, which would prevent me from using my screen reader. It’s very important to me to know that I’d be able to continue to live my life, even if technology all suddenly vanished. And while it’s certainly true, as you say, that trees need to be cut down to print books, the various plastics and other industrial processes involved in the making of technology, and powering it afterwards, often require the use of fossil fuels, especially oil. At least the trees will grow back again, if properly manageed.
I hadn’t heard of that TV series Runes, but judging by the synopsis, they seem to have their Druids using runes. The Druids were part of Celtic culture, and the Celts never used runes! Still, it’s only fiction, so they’re forgiven. In Ogham, the Celtic system of magical writing, the characters are nothing at all like runes, and consist of a series of up to five lines placed over a central stem. It’s thought that this might be derived from a system of hand signalling, in other words, sign language.
Team sports are one of the things I miss most about school. We played a number of them, such as goalball, which is mentioned in the article you linked, and an adapted version of field hockey. What these had in common, of course, was a bell in the ball. One of the quirks of goalball is that you have to wear a blindfold, even if you’re blind. This is to allow partially sighted and even sighted people to play, and to avoid any disputes about who needs to wear a blindfold, and who doesn’t. Here’s a very short tutorial video which I’m hoping shows the physical nature of the game.
The other main team sport we did at school was field hockey, though I couldn’t find much about this online (not to be confused with ice hockey, of course). Hockey is particularly suited to blind players because the hockey stick can function in a similar way to a cane, as an extension of one’s hands, as it were.
We also had running, gymnastics and swimming. One of the most interesting sports that we did at school, however, was orienteering. We did this while on the camping trips at weekends, and it involves finding your way from one place to another in the fastest possible time, usually in fairly remote areas, such as North Wales, and learning to use devices such as a talking compass and GPS locator.
I agree that evictions are indeed immoral, as are many aspects of society. During the pandemic it has actually become illegal in the UK to evict anyone, even if they don’t pay their rent, but I imagine this will just be a temporary measure. I really hope that the shared experience of the pandemic will lead to a more sharing and equal society as we come out of it. We certainly can’t go back to what things were like before, anyway. And I’m actually fairly optimistic that things will indeed change for the better, and I think there’s already some evidence for this. As with all progress, it will be mind-numbingly slow for ages, then everything will suddenly happen at once.
Thank you for your extenely detailed and comprehensive description of the video! What the woman is doing is spelling out the entire runic alphabet in order, by assuming the shape of each rune with her body, which is indeed similar to the way I do it, although in my case I always do it outdoors. I can use this method, for example, to spell out a blessing, an invocation, or indeed, anything I want to.
And that last article you linked is very interesting indeed. Blind Pagans are so few and far between that it’s interesting to hear the perspective of another, and there is so much in there that I can relate to. Paganism is all about practice, rather than belief, and rituals involve a lot of movement. As Arie points out, this is particularly suited to blind people. Or at least can be. The rituals she describes in her article are very much Wiccan, and I can well remember exactly some of the things she mentions, and the bits that blind people might find problematic, especially in a group setting where people are walking around, and so on. Wicca places a lot of emphasis on what it calls tools of the craft, physical objects used in rituals, and this is one of the reasons, incidentally, why I gradually realised it was not for me, as I feel that you really don’t need all those items in order to connect with nature. Some people find them helpful though, and that’s fine. Another thing that I don’t do any more is cast a circle. Instead, I always do my rituals outdoors, in nature, where you don’t actually need to create a sacred space, because it’s already there. I’m also not a big fan of divination, as I think that it’s best to let the workings of fate go ahead as they will. A lot of Pagans use runes for divination, but of all their many uses, that’s the one thing that I don’t bother with. And here’s an example of Braille tarot cards, which Arie also mentions in her article, but again, it’s not something I’m particiularly into.
Basically a description of all that is becoming increasingly more problematic about living in our “modern age”. One way or another it can get you. I’ve read where eventually the “big one” – a coronal mass ejection from the Sun – is going to fry not only many of the satellites “up there” connected to our technologies, but depending on where it impacts us the most down here will wipe out power for weeks or months or longer. A much bigger version of this: nasa.gov/topics/earth/featu … kness.html
The part of nature that can be rather ominous as it were…
What would be interesting to me would be to listen in on a discussion between team members after a game where some were blind from birth, some were once sighted and others are still sighted but wore a blindfold. How their experience of playing the game was more or less the same or more or less different. Not sure why but I keep coming back to that. The part you brought to my attention about the different worlds that blind people are coming from. Worlds I can only hope to [perhaps] understand better.
Thanks for this. Hand-ear coordination. And the fact that there is a “US Women’s Goalball team”. All the things out there in the world that most of us have no real clue about. The woman being interviewed appeared to be blind but the reporter noted that everyone is blindfolded, so not all are blind.
It basically shows all the team members out on the field practicing or playing the game. It would appear that the woman being interviewed is not entirely blind but it isn’t noted the extent to which the team as a whole is either more or less blind. Or if any members are totally blind.
Most of the links are in regard to ice hockey. Probably because that’s a male sport while field hockey is mostly a female sport. Typical sexism.
Yes, it’s basically the same here. Moratoriums on evictions now. But soon to be lifted no doubt if the pandemic is contained. It really comes down to how one thinks about those being evicted. For some everything revolves around “individual responsibility”. If someone is evicted it must be their own fault. But what of the far more prevalent reality where it is not. You lose your job because of an economic calamity like in 2007…brought about as a result of an implosion created by those who own and operate the big banks. Or the covid pandemic. And what of the innocent children who are evicted along with their parents? For some it’s an outrage. For other’s it’s not.
Yes, I supected that is what she was doing. Throughout the video whenever she made a different move a symbol would appear at the bottom of the screen. As though she was going through the alphabet. I can only try to imagine having this capacity to feel embedded in what she and you and others experience when it goes beyond the physical sensation of movement and encompasses a much deeper spiritual connection to the world around you. Maybe some day for me. Maybe not.
Yes, that is why I wondered above why you didn’t make the attempt to bring blind friends into this world that means so much to you. To share it on a level that others in your community are not able to. You noted that you don’t interact much anymore in the blind community. And, again, you know your own world – your own wants and needs – far, far better than I ever will. But maybe someday you will come into contact with another blind member. Back to never really knowing what is going to be around the next corner in your life.
Or, sure, I am only projecting my own frame of mind into all of this. My own yearning for empathy in regard to my own “separation” from most in the world around me. My fractured and fragmented self in a world that has imploded.
That’s why I’m glad that you could share at least some things from your own life with the experiences of Arie:
This I suspect will always be a mysterious world for me. But it never fails to fascinate me how people change or don’t change over the years. All of the factors in their lives that come together to nudge or to [even] shove them in different directions. You have a new experience, begin a new friendship, read a new article, bump into a new movie, encounter a new epiphany and suddenly [or not so suddenly] you stop thinking and feeling one way and start thinking and feeling another way instead.
And, when push comes to shove, you may or may not come to really understand it all.
This “blockage” thing can be strange. Both of those songs are from the same artists from the same album…Open Road. Yet one gets through and the other is blocked.
The idea that some massive geo-magnetic storm could knock out all electrical equipment on earth is a scary one indeed, and very much a post-apocalyptic sort of scenario. For a start off, almost all of the money in the world would suddenly disappear, since it only exists as numbers recorded electronically somewhere. Things with actual intrinsic usefulness would become valuable in their own right again, and would be used for bartering. And people with useful skills would be able to exchange them for food and other necessities. Doesn’t actually sound too bad, does it? Nature has a way of correcting any inbalances, and there is no doubt that modern human civilisation is grossly unbalanced, in so many ways.
It is indeed a typical example of sexism that field hockey doesn’t get the support it deserves. Men’s sports get all the best sponsorship deals, leaving women’s sports to languish in a poor second place. Equipment, uniforms, and so on don’t come cheap. It’s getting better, I think, but only very slowly.
There are so many injustices in society that would be really easy to solve, with the right political will. Homelessness, for example. It seems to have been around for centuries, and I suppose a lot of people thought that there was nothing that could be done about it. But it turned out that there was. At the beginning of the pandemic, when everyone was ordered to stay in their homes until further notice, the government decided that homeless people needed a place to stay too, so it simply provided the resources to pay for it. Almost all homeless people are now in temporary accomodation. I very much hope that once the pandemic is declared to be over, it will be politically impossible to turf them all out onto the streets again, and so something more permanent will have to be arranged. At the same time, I hope that more resources are given to helping those who became homeless through things like drug addiction, which is a big cause of it. But homelessness is just one factor among many, and no lasting solution will be found without tackling everything at the same time, root and branch. Everyone in society needs to be given the opportunity to find their ideal role, and to realise that they are all part of a harmonious whole, where every individual has responsibility for everyone else.
Posting about Paganism in blindness related groups is one thing (and I’ve certainly done that over the years), but trying to pursuade people to come along to rituals or events, when they wouldn’t normally have considered doing so, is quite another. Paganism is very much a matter of a personal calling, and I wouldn’t want anyone to be there who didn’t really want to be there. Arie’s article was interesting because I could relate to so much of what she was saying, especially from my earlier days in Wicca, but I’ve never felt any need to have other blind people around when I go to such events. I suppose it’s a question of self-confidence, but that’s something that I’ve never really had any problems with. I think that a lack of self-confidence is often bound up with depression, which is something I’m very lucky to have never suffered from. Staying active is the key to that though, I’m sure.
Yes, it’s always interesting how people change and evolve over the years. My own gradual disillusionment with Wicca was not a sudden realisation, but a slow process. And a complicating factor was the fact that by the time I realised this, I had already made good friends in the Wiccan group, who I didn’t want to hurt by leaving. In the end I needn’t have worried about that, though, as Pagans tend to be pretty laid back about such things, and I’ve remained friends with them even after leaving.
It’s odd how some videos won’t play, as it seems to be totally random. Anyway, here’s another good one from Faun.
You asked me to tell you of any interesting dreams I have. Well, I had one last night. I was walking home, that is, to my parents’ house, as if I still lived there. Before I got there I passed a house on the corner where a friend of mine lived when I was little, though in fact, she hasn’t done so for many years. And I suddenly felt a huge blast of negative energy coming from it. I carried on and went into my house, going straight upstairs to my bedroom. Very shortly afterwards I heard the front door opening, keys in lock, and so on. I called down to ask who it was, and my Mom called back up to say it was her. And that’s basically it. What it means, I have no idea. Like all dreams, the most memorable thing about it is its emotional content, which also happens to be the thing that’s most difficult to describe.
Here of course nature is pretty much “beyond our control”. And it always prompts the question: Why? Is there something or someone “behind” nature that is able to provide us with meaning and purpose in regard to such events. Or is it all just but one more manifestation of a “brute facticity” embedded for no comprehendible reason in a cosmos that just is what it is.
I just recently watched a documentary on the possibility of a super-volcano eruption at Yellowstone National Park. Some argue that it is now long overdue. Uh-oh?
I could not have said it better. But politics can be brutal. Those up and down ideological spectrum all insisting that the only solutions are their solutions. But I think that the primary focus has to be on the children. You can argue back and forth about “individual responsibility” and “society”, but the kids are always innocent. They should always be the priority in my view. I’m still no less “fractured and fragmented” when it comes figuring out how to actually bring it all about, but I’d make it all about the children first if were up to me. All kids should at least have the opportunity to make the most of their lives.
Yes, there’s no getting around that. All you can do is to note the things that your own beliefs have provided in the way of experiences that keep you active. And how those activities allow you to feel so much more intertwined in nature, providing you in turn with a connection to something that is understood by you to be a so much more inclusive sense of reality. Then it will often come down to sheer luck, serendipity, fate or whatever you want to call it when you do find someone that is so much more like you than others. For me, the equivalent of another Supannika.
Still, that can only mean different things to different people. But, sure, let me know how your own life unfolds in this regard.
Perhaps you might consider contacting her and sharing experiences. She has an option to click on for just that purpose: ariefarnam.com/contact
Again, you seem to have found that oh so crucial frame of mind that for all practical purposes has allowed you to change over the years, but not in a way that led to ruptured friendships and relationships. And I think in part that comes from being tolerant of shifting values in others. And they being tolerant of changes in your own life.
You should run this by your Mom to get her reaction.
What about your friend might have caused this blast of negative energy? Or was it the house itself? Was it an ominous sensation or something less explicable? Or maybe it was all just a way of reminding you that you have a family you can turn to in order to keep all the negative stuff at bay.
Also, was it a recurring dream? Those are the ones that always mean the most to me.
Yep, there’s no doubt about it, we’re living in a dangerous universe and could be wiped out at any moment. But I don’t think there’s someone or something “behind” nature, providing meaning and purpose, because that role is taken by nature itself.
I fully agree about focusing on children, and the way to do it is surely provide an education that finds and brings out everyone’s potential, and nurtures their skills, so as to prepare them for their role in the adult world. And speaking from experience, I would definitely recommend the sort of intensive, all round education that I had, and this should be provided to everyone. Individual responsibility is certainly important though, because no society can function without it. Individual resonsibility not only for your own life and happiness, but for everyone else’s too, and this is one of the things that the educational system should instill in everyone.
Perhaps my soulmate is out there somewhere, who knows? What I do know is that if I ever meet him, it will be sudden, and happen in completely unexpected circumstances. So all I can do is go with the flow and leave it in the hands of fate. In any case, as I mentioned before, all that will have to wait another three and a half years.
Yes, I had a read of Arie’s website. She seems to be quite a prolific writer on all sorts of Pagan and other subjects, and has written a whole series of novels too. I don’t have any pressing need to contact her at the moment, but if that changes, I will certainly do so.
The blast of negative energy wasn’t from my friend, I know that much. It seemed to be from the house itself. More malevolent than ominous, I would say. The dream itself wasn’t a repeat of a previous one, but the emotional signature of it was, and that’s the important bit. And yes, reminding me that I have a family to turn to is indeed a good explanation for it.
"Everybody is a wonderin’ what and where they all came from
Everybody is a worryin’ 'bout where
They’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done
But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me
I think I’ll just let the mystery be
Some say once you’re gone you’re gone forever
And some say you’re gonna come back
Some say you rest in the arms of
The Saviour if in sinful ways you lack
Some say that they’re comin’ back in a
Garden, bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
I think I’ll just let the mystery be
Everybody is a wonderin’ what and where they all came from
Everybody is a worryin’ 'bout where
They’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done
But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me
I think I’ll just let the mystery be
Some say they’re goin’ to a place called
Glory and I ain’t saying it ain’t a fact
But I’ve heard that I’m on the road to
Purgatory and I don’t like the sound of that
Well, I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be
Everybody is a wonderin’ what and where they all came from
Everybody is a worryin’ 'bout where
They’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done
But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me
I think I’ll just let the mystery be
I think I’ll just let the mystery be"
Then it’s all about where you are now in your life and what you have managed to conclude about it yourself. Then all those corners you’ll go around down the road and all the new experiences that may or may not change it.
All I ask for myself is an educational system that instills in children the capacity to think critically. To not just take for granted what they are taught about the world around them but to question the assumptions that underlie those in power. Then to choose not “might makes right” or “right makes might” but “moderation negotiation and compromise” as [perhaps] “the best of all possible world”. But to ever let the focus be on the children.
Yes, this is all shrouded in the mystery of human interactions. It reminds me of the character Jamie in Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It”:
“Jamie [to the camera]: I believe there is only one person, one person in this world, who was meant to be your soulmate, your lifelong companion. The irony is rarely do these two people hook up. They just wander about aimlessly. But if you are lucky, and you do find that person, you can’t blow it. Nola was that person.”
I bumped into my own soulmate, Supannika, given a purely adventitious set of circumstances. You just never know. After all, the woman right next door to me might be very much like her.
On the other hand, if you actually make an attempt to find someone it’s got to increase your odds.
Well, if you ever do, let me know what unfolds. And, given all of the things that you do share in common, I hope someday that you do. Given my own set of circumstances, I couldn’t resist the opportunity myself.
Dreams will always be mysterious. Not unlike the waking world itself.
All good stuff. Anyway, thank you for a most interesting chat, but I think it has now reached a natural conclusion. So I’ll end with another classic from the Moody Blues, Eyes of a Child.
With the eyes of a child, you must come out and see
That your world’s spinning round and through life you will be
A small part, of a hope, of a love that exists
In the eyes of a child you will see
Well, truth be told, this isn’t unexpected. I have my own suspicions as to what you might mean by a “natural conclusion” but since you invited me to stay in touch through our email exchange perhaps we can explore that there.
[b]"But what about those who have been blind since birth, and thus have no visual memories at all?
‘When a blind man is asked if he dreams the answer is immediate: ‘Yes!’ But if we ask him if he sees anything in the dream, the answer is always doubtful because he does not know what it is to see. Even if there were images and colours in his brain during the dream, how could he recognize them? There is, therefore, no direct way, through the dream reports, to evaluate the presence of visual activation in the dream of congenitally blind subjects.’ —Bértolo, Mestre, Barrio, & Antona, 2017
"Because the researchers felt it impossible to know for sure the visual quality of imagery based on dream reports, they decided to additionally study the eye movements during dreams of congenitally blind subjects. Twenty adult subjects were recruited for the study, including 10 congenitally blind and 10 sighted subjects. All of the subjects underwent two consecutive nights of polysomnographic recordings at home, with several awakenings for dream recall.
"The initial results found that the frequency of dream recall did not differ between the two groups, with an average of 60 percent dream recall reported following REM sleep awakenings.
"The dream reports of the blind subjects were reported as perceptually vivid and contained reference to visual, tactile, auditory and kinesthetic sensation. There was no difference between the two groups in the vividness of the dreams or even in the quantity of visual content reported.
“Nevertheless, the blind subjects had fewer rapid eye movements than the sighted subjects, although they did have eye movements, and these eye movements did correlate with visual dream recall. The authors argue that, “The fact that blind subjects present [rapid eye movements] and that these are correlated with visual dream recall is another result supporting our argument that they do activate visual areas during dream, being able to generate their own visual imagery.”[/b]
Then it gets even more problematic:
[b]"Schöpf et al. (2014) conducted a study comparing in utero eye movements to neural activity using fMRI data acquired from seven fetuses. During the study, fetal eye movements were recorded and corresponded with fMRI data. Results showed that already in utero, fetal eye movements correspond with activity in visual and frontal cerebral areas. This suggests that the human visual system is active even prior to birth.
The authors thus argue that, ‘…if fetuses can dream, presumably with visual imagery, without ever having visual experience, who’s to say the same cannot happen with blind subjects? Therefore, we propose that our results support the hypothesis that congenitally blind [rapid eye movements] during dreams…are able to generate visual imagery without visual experience.’"[/b]
Again, this “technical” assessment still doesn’t get me closer to understanding what it means to dream about a world you have never seen…but have touched, heard, tasted, smelled. From my sighted frame of mind vision is the sense that ties all the other senses together into a “reality”.
Then the equally mysterious “sixth sense”. That visceral/intuitive reaction to the world around us that we may or may not be able to capture in words.
Finally, the manner in which “being blind” can pertain to “conditions” having nothing to do with sight at all.