worth writing about

This morning William the witness had plenty of thoughts, feelings and moods (TFM) to observe passing through the attention centre. But most of them were trivial and ephemeral. He is now waiting for something to turn up that is consequential and worth writing about.

I could have sat quietly doing nothing but that did not have much appeal so I watched the BBC news on my tablet, read about epigenetics on my Kindle and, produced another doodle.

Aha - an existential mist concerning the purpose of life has appeared. My main world view has deep anarchic roots. I am anti-authority. I suspect that the root cause lies in early childhood sources of hypocrisy in the family and in the community. The good and great, my elders and betters, did not always practice what they preached, and they did not always agree amongst themselves. My reaction was to hide away from authority and read books. After an exotic working life trying to find better ways to be human I am again tucked away reading books … That is one of the standard stories from the memory archive. Here are some others …

A lot of stuff happened between those early years and now. From 1967-72 I studied Zoology and from 1972-85 I taught science and biology in secondary schools. Along the way I also studied archaeology, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. I approached these subjects from an evolutionary perspective and I came to appreciate the role that politics and economics play in the use and abuse of power related to the accumulation and use of resources.

Note in passing that in 1972 more than twenty honours graduates in Zoology considered their possible careers. We could clearly see the problems that nowadays underpin ‘Green’ politics and it was obvious that solutions demanded campaigning so as to change minds and policies. Few of us were attracted to that option. Most were inclined to bird watching in the Hebrides.

In the late 1980s I gave up classroom teaching and became an education management advisor specialising in curriculum development.

In the late 1990s I gave up educational advising and became a freelance advisor on community and social development.

In the late 2000s I burned out and gave up freelance work. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in late 2010.

In between times I arranged for my continuing professional development by studying for two Masters degrees and by taking time out for five between-job, year-long retreats where it was a case of teacher teach yourself to be a lifelong learner.

And now I am retired with a pension. It is another retreat. I read, think, meditate, and write a blog every other day. The content areas remain about the same but the method has changed. The illusory nature of a self conscious ‘I’ is appreciated so the unconscious muse is given a free reign to churn out it’s mind stuff (TFM) from the default mode network (DMN). This bears witness to the truth of the subjective impression that the mind has a mind of its own.

SO – was it worth waiting? Did something turn up that is consequential and worth writing about?