Today, Bean Up The Nose Art tackles . . . wait for it . . . REALITY.
Yes.
The Whole Enchilada. The Entire Shebang. And we also propose why we should all go out and make our owned darned versions of it.
Ready?
Come on!!!
Come on!!!
* * * * *
Bean Up The Nose Art got its name from the time I ran up to my mom and assured her, "I DON'T HAVE A BEAN UP MY NOSE!"
(Button = gift of my fabulous Twitter friends @sally_K and @fun_master.)
All of my issues with "reality" are apparent right there.
1. We don't truly know what is going on in any situation until we live it ourselves. ("Hey! Let's see what happens if I put this up my nose!")
2. Humans always spin situations based on their own agendas. ("Wait! I know! I'll just tell her it's not there!")
3. Confidence in your view will not necessarily win the day, and untruths will come to light. ("She didn't believe me?!?!?")
4. You never really know for sure how things are going to turn out. (For instance, I do not know the end of the story. My mom has passed away, and my dad cannot remember the outcome. For all I know, the bean is still up there. And lo these many years later, it has became a kick-ass business name. Who knew?)
In short, my healthy dose of curiosity about -- and potential skepticism over -- the rules, authority, and how things worked was apparently something I was born with.
And it just got more pronounced.
When we learned division in grammar school, I asked what happened if you divided by zero. I was told, literally, "You cannot do it. It is impossible."
When we learned division in grammar school, I asked what happened if you divided by zero. I was told, literally, "You cannot do it. It is impossible."
Fast-forward to more advanced math classes a few years later . . . where, lo and behold, you COULD -- and SHOULD -- divide by zero! Because that was how you got to imaginary numbers, which was part of the assignment.
WHAT?!?!?!?In fourth grade, you couldn't divide by zero. Because it was IMPOSSIBLE. But in seventh grade, you HAD TO?!?!?!
I was outraged.
Here's how that translated in my particular let's-stick-a-bean-up-our-nose brain: in that instant, what I internalized was that "reality" and rules and whatever else gets portrayed as "the truth" by folks in authority is really just one version of things. (A darker perspective: it's an outright lie, perpetuated by any number of motives . . . including being too tired to explain to a fourth grader that one actually could some day learn to divide by zero, but it just was not going to happen today.)
Nowadays, my attitude toward folks pedaling any version of the "the truth," is to smile to myself on the inside and say, "Okay. It's your version. If it helps us, let's go with it."
To me, all religion, and all science, is -- at its best -- a set of the best conjectures and best faiths based on the best information folks have got on hand at the time. Things change. Perspectives change. Information changes. No one really, really, really knows what happens when we die. Or who's running things. Or how the universe started. No one does, for sure. None of it can be absolutely proved, or disproved. All faith and all science is simply a matter of a set of beliefs.
And all of this is to say that I am increasingly frustrated and sad about humans' predilections to get their panties in a bunch about what "the truth" is, and how the rest of the world should believe it, too.
When no one can prove for certain what is true and what isn't in these matters, why can't we just admit that, and be kinder to each other about it all?
And, in fact, why can't we view it as a glorious opportunity to create our own versions of how we want our worlds to be? Because if "the truth" and "reality" are really only versions of how things are, why can't we make up new and better ones?
I for one would make up a world where the more soft and flabby skin you develop on your neck as a mid-life woman, the more powerful and attractive you become. That would be a start. And then we would tackle world hunger, war, illiteracy, slavery, racism, and poverty.
Here's how that translated in my particular let's-stick-a-bean-up-our-nose brain: in that instant, what I internalized was that "reality" and rules and whatever else gets portrayed as "the truth" by folks in authority is really just one version of things. (A darker perspective: it's an outright lie, perpetuated by any number of motives . . . including being too tired to explain to a fourth grader that one actually could some day learn to divide by zero, but it just was not going to happen today.)
Nowadays, my attitude toward folks pedaling any version of the "the truth," is to smile to myself on the inside and say, "Okay. It's your version. If it helps us, let's go with it."To me, all religion, and all science, is -- at its best -- a set of the best conjectures and best faiths based on the best information folks have got on hand at the time. Things change. Perspectives change. Information changes. No one really, really, really knows what happens when we die. Or who's running things. Or how the universe started. No one does, for sure. None of it can be absolutely proved, or disproved. All faith and all science is simply a matter of a set of beliefs.
And all of this is to say that I am increasingly frustrated and sad about humans' predilections to get their panties in a bunch about what "the truth" is, and how the rest of the world should believe it, too.When no one can prove for certain what is true and what isn't in these matters, why can't we just admit that, and be kinder to each other about it all?
And, in fact, why can't we view it as a glorious opportunity to create our own versions of how we want our worlds to be? Because if "the truth" and "reality" are really only versions of how things are, why can't we make up new and better ones?
I for one would make up a world where the more soft and flabby skin you develop on your neck as a mid-life woman, the more powerful and attractive you become. That would be a start. And then we would tackle world hunger, war, illiteracy, slavery, racism, and poverty.
Hoping you will join me in your own do-it-yourself reality-making. To the extent we can. Whatver that is. Because who the heck really knows? But since no one can really prove to us that we can't, WHY THE HECK NOT TRY?!?!
Thanks for playing. Keep us posted on your results :)
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