This morning I watched a BBC documentary that included an interview with an astronaut about gravity, and the lack thereof while she was working in orbit. She was talking about how in space, everything floats, and after a couple of days you’re begging for gravity again, begging for something to just stay where you put it and not float away… But then when you come back to Earth all of a sudden you’re so heavy and so aware of being pulled down toward the Earth, and how horrible this is and how she instantly wonders why she ever wished to have gravity back. That’s a little what losing muscle strength is like for me — a hyerawareness of my own weight, because even holding my body up and doing the simplest activities takes conscious effort and is as painful as if I was at the gym at the end of a strenuous weight training session. The documentary by the way — “The Man Who Lost His Body” — was about a guy who lost all feeling in his body, including the “sixth sense” that tells you where all your limbs are located, so he had to retrain his mind’s eye, and is actually the only man with this condition to ever relearn how to walk, through incredible conscious effort and visualization.
Speaking of both consciousness and the innate sense of self, yesterday I was thinking — as I often do — about how amazing it is that we are a collection of space dust that somehow congealed into organic molecules, self-replicating chemistry and life, became more and more complex, and eventually gained a soul — because what is a soul but the act of wondering whether one has a soul — that contemplates the space dust from whence it came. How amazing is that? How lucky is my particular collection of particles to be this-conscious-me? Although I suppose, I didn’t have a choice. After all, as I’m always telling Nefarious, I’m not 36 year old, I’m 13.73 billion years old, but I’ve only been awake for the last 36, so I don’t have a very good memory of when I was younger… Well, at least the pieces that I’m made of are 13.73 billion years old. So it all depends on what the word “I” means at that moment. But in the absence of passing religious faith on to Nefarious, I want to share with her the same sense of awe and wonder that I feel about our beautiful physical universe. I feel like this reality, and our connection and important part in this reality is so much more amazing that any “God” myth primitive humans have invented.
Which reminds me, last year I posted about the Symphony of Science videos that auto-tune Carl Sagan and others into music that talks about those very feelings. Since I made that post, two more videos have been added to that series. Here they are, “Our Place in the Cosmos” and “The Unbroken Thread”.
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Think I’ll be checking out “The Man Who Lost His Body” sounds like something I’d dig.
Have you read “The Brain That Changes Itself”? Similar stories in there.
I believe that sixth sense is called “proprioception.” Oliver Sacks writes about a similar case in “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat,” albeit from more of a clinical and medical perspective. It’s quite a good read.
I often think of these things. It’s incredible and instantly humbling. I have been reading your updates for some time and this post really echoed my thoughts today. I will have to watch “The man who lost his body”, it sounds very interesting.
I’m really looking forward to the completion of the project, I’m keen to get my hands on a copy of that album.
Yes, that’s it.
…and I do recommend that documentary — the man who’s featured in it is a real inspiration.
I’ve also seen “The Man Who Lost His Body” it is quite the inspiration. I can’t imagine the task that must have been for him and is great example of the power of the human brain. Another great Doc to watch is “The Boy With The Incredible Brain” about Daniel Tammet who is a autistic savant.
I think one of religion’s more harmful consequences is that it has given people a sense that they’re “above” the natural world or that they’re put there to subjugate it and all of the creatures upon it. The world only seems more amazing to me when I think about what it took to bring me to this place. The fact of evolution is far more interesting and personally fulfilling than any creation myth.
We should dedicate holidays to people like Carl Sagan.
You can get a 7″ of A Glorious Dawn from Third Man Records :)
“How lucky is my particular collection of particles to be this-conscious-me?”
Not lucky at all, if you take the word of physicist Roger Penrose. He has put forth the theory that everything is conscious.
Great post, Shannon! I’ll definitely be hunting out that documentary. I love thinking about this stuff, too. we are all space dust! :)
“I’m 13.73 billion years old, but I’ve only been awake for the last 36″ – a lovely thought!
have to say, i do enjoy popping onto your blog every once in a while – your sense of focus on your interests and passions is really inspiring.
all the best for a good 2010 x
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