Alone Together

I have been reading up on the history of Western thought, Christian thought, etc. My first instinct this morning was to go back and reread to be certain to get it all correct before posting. However, I realized that I could make my point regardless, and those adventurous souls who care to dig deeper can do their own reading.

Much of what amounted to the early dogma (didn't use to be a bad word) of the church borrowed heavily from Greek philosophy. As such, most of these books I am enjoying all begin with an introduction to Plato, Aristotle, et al. A key point of theirs, summed up rather simplistically here, involves universal images that may or may not exist apart from physical reality.

This boiled down to what is more real - the image we have in our mind or the physical image presented to us by our senses? If I were to say "Rose" (thank you Umberto Eco) - something pops into being in your mind...is that merely a stored memory of a particular rose? a stored amalgam of many roses' memories? or perhaps it is an image based on THE rose that exists in God's mind?

Now assume that for some reason a beloved friend has given you a New Year's rose in a vase - this gets philosophically complicated because you are still seeing a rose in your mind and I am asking you to imagine a rose physically before you. Which rose is the most real?

Before you answer...this is a variation on the if a tree falls in the forest with no one to hear it does it make a sound? Is the accumulation of rapidly deteriorating cells of carbon-based material before your eyes the REAL rose or is the rose that is now in your mind with all of the emotional attachment, that will last long after the petals have withered and fallen, the REAL rose? What does the physical object matter without the mind's eye?

All will soon be made clear...

Last night I was an integral part of a New Year's Eve party. It was one of the more rewarding New Year's Eves that I have experienced. Now if you are unable to wrap your heads around the idea that the imagined rose is more real, what follows will be very much "glass-is-half-empty" for you, and for that I am deeply sorry.

As Maria explains nicely at Kirkepiscatoid, we created something out of nothing last night. Earlier in the day, a seemingly random status update over Doris Day gradually morphed into a virtual party on Facebook. I was all ready to spend a quiet evening at home; New Year's Eve being one of the nights where the lack of television is felt a bit more than usual.

Instead a number of my cyber friends "gathered" and we partied utilizing the gifts of modern technology - our computers, internet connections, Facebook, You Tube, etc. Folks were posting video of their favorite music from the past. Maria was sharing wall posts of virtual food and drinks. It hit me that the feel of the party was very similar to gathering with friends in Junior High and playing our cherished 45 r.p.m. singles for each other.

So what has this to do with Greek philosophy and imagined roses and such?

We struggled with the concept of whether or not what we were experiencing was REAL. In typical American fashion we questioned the validity of our enjoyment based on cultural assumptions. After all, none of us were physically at a party, wearing our actual party attire, chemical hair products shining forth from our do's, sloshing down ETOH in a variety of store bought forms, snacking on processed food and chemicals...

Like the flower above it is easy to confuse the actual sensory experience of the molecules as reality. To do so we have to discredit everything else that occurs in our brain simultaneously. I would argue that our party was completely REAL - our brains were filled with images of cyber friends, most of which I have never met face to face. The bar and buffet was all there in my mind's eye - no less real than the memory of the McDonald's burger I had consumed earlier in the day. There was an exchange of ideas and expressions of love and friendship.

Would you really be ready to trade all of that for the mere presence of molecules of ETOH in your stomach and the presence of someone else's furniture under your butt? This will be where the glass-is-half-empty folks will demand to point out that the glass is in fact half empty, not half full.

"But a REAL party will have all of that together..." No, a PHYSICAL party will still allow the joys we experienced, the thoughts and emotions present in our minds, while we experience ALL of the demands of a physical/sensory party, which will include the primping, driving, cooking/buying, body image neurosis, sexual partner stalking, drunkenness, consumption of unnecessary calories, safe? drive home, restless sleep, clean up, and morning headache.

IMHO, when one focuses on what is truly important about a gathering of friends, we achieved that last night...or as Maria pointed out we achieved the impossible because we spontaneously gathered up friends from all over the country, shared our music, and counted down to midnight.

We all "danced" alone together. Robert Thomas, cyber friend from Alaska, posted the following status update on Facebook this morning:

"My thought for the new year: "Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music" - George Carlin. This year - I intend to dance."

Last night the glass was insanely half full and oh did we dance.

Peace and love to all. Happy New Year!