Whoa. Another blog entry? Already?! I know all of you reading are shocked. All BOTH of you!
So again I'm going to rattle off stream of consciousness without editing. I'm into that now. My friends and I were discussing James Joyce and Faulkner at brunch, and I guess I'm going to try that style today.
Wow. I made that sound like we had this erudite meeting of the minds. And actually, yeah, I think our conversation today does qualify as that, but it was more about Jim Morrison's influence on Iggy Pop, (because I work Jim Morrison into every conversation) and the administrators at our kids' school, and our upcoming travels.... see? I'm doing it already. Why are those authors revered? This stream of consciousness shit is a breeze! Anyway, as I was thinking/saying/writing, we really did have a good time, because I love talking with these very smart people.
And don't you love it when you have that connection with people? Where your conversation could go for days? You have it in the beginning of a romantic relationship. That giddy ionic bonding through language, both verbal and non-verbal. If you're really lucky - for the entirety of your romantic relationship, you will maintain that connection, even if the demands of every day life dictate that you can't abandon responsibilities to engage constantly. (Supposedly. I don't have empirical evidence of my own, although I hope to one day.)
So... Don't you hate it when you lose that connection?
(A moment of silence.....) Ok, enough of that shit.
My niece wrote a song a long time ago, "Unknown Encounter." It's one of my favorites of hers just for the sound of it. It popped into my head today, because I was thinking back on the past week. In the last few days, I've had some fantastic, thought-provoking conversations with old friends, new friends, and old new friends or is it new old friends? In her song, she sings, "I was havin' a debate... on religion and politics, and if I needed faith." She wrote this as a teenager, and it blew my mind that she had such perspective. The same song says, "The next year we hung around... and pretended to be friends... but the truth is you have potential, so this isn't where it ends."
And it's potential that powers those debates, those connections. Whether we do it with another, or with ourselves, we drive our lives by converting this potential into kinetic energy. When people say that they feel "alive," this is what they're feeling. Sheer current that, if you are quiet while it's flowing, you almost can hear it. The kind that quickens your pulse and widens your pupils. The kind that keeps you painting even though your thumbs are numb. The kind that keeps you typing even though your eyes are blurred. The kind that keeps you awake until 4 am just to listen to a voice.
Magic happens. And when it happens with two people, hearts heal, minds unite, cells divide, and synapses fire. Yes, the synapses that fire together DO wire together, to paraphrase Carla Shatz. But they also can tire together. If I have to lose the connection, I think I prefer to be knocked to the ground by lightning rather than to just have the battery drain or the wiring get so old it's too brittle to conduct. (Then you end up with that "sound and fury signifying nothing" - which was Faulkner quoting Shakespeare and I guess meant that nothing means anything. Bleak. That was his stream of consciousness, so let's get back to mine... after this brief message.)
Taking a short intermission from my stream of consciousness: I grabbed this info from Wikipedia, but only because I know about it from my job, but didn't know how to succinctly explain it: "In electronics, capacitive coupling is the transfer of energy within an electrical network by means of the capacitance between circuit nodes. This coupling can have an intentional or accidental effect."
Same goes for our coupling. Humans are not meant to be resistors. We must connect or our lives will become blackouts. Just like every medicine is really only the right amount of poison, so then is every connection life-sustaining but possibly deadly. You've got something in your head, and in there, it's safe. But once you let it out, once you so much as voice it, that current is flowing. Don't kid yourself that just because you didn't directly stick a fork in a socket that you might not be creating a dangerous arc. Exciting, beautiful. And often the more exciting, the more beautiful, the more lethal. But also often, the result is worth the hazard. Just be sure to use shielded cables.
"Ohm's Law is a linear relationship, meaning that for any given body of resistance, the more volts you have, the more amps you'll have. That's why it's misleading to say that it's not the volts that will kill you; it's the amps. The volts directly determine the amps."
(The volts are thoughts, and the amps are actions, if you didn't follow me there.) When you've got that 230 VAC/50 Hz surge buzzing through your body, please use it! (Or domestically, you should probably use 120/60, but I digress.) Be careful how and where you channel it, but use it to power something.
You can't live without your power. Share it. Open yourself to the flow of others. Connect. Be cautious but remember safety is never guaranteed. Keep in mind that you will definitely live through a little bit of static shock.
And if you're looking for a spark but afraid to plug in, start slowly and try something of lower risk, like maybe licking a 9 Volt battery.
But don't do that at brunch with your friends, or they'll think you're really weird.
Go listen to Ariel!
Electric Arc
Science, y'all
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