I have visited American Philosophical Society this morning and would to post more but WiFi connections are weak. The attached photos are from Washington Square downtown Philadelphia.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Light...
Watch "See Longwood Gardens in a Whole New Light" on YouTube
I am walking in fields of light right now. It is astounding.
Walt Whitman's Tomb
Well it was amazing. Modest by most any standard. Plain, nothing spectacular. Grave keepers digging nearby. Cars and sirens just over the fence in a Camden that's been rundown with poverty. But it was incredible to me. I have a video of some readings there that I can't upload it seems.
As good as this was though, nothing prepared me for what I would see at the Philly art museum... I had no idea this piece was on loan. I saw it and cried for 15 minutes. I never thought I would live to see it....
More later. :-)
Abandon Tent!
First night and it rained like mad. About 3/4 of an inch of water was pooled up in my tent. Everything got soaked and I mean everything. I have pictures but having a hard time getting them updated on the blog using this campsite wireless connection. Will look for a beter hotspot today -- meanwhile off to pull stuff out of the dryer!
For Whom The Road Tolls
There's nothing that says welcome to our great state like a toll road. Not that I ever believed it one bit, now I know why some say Northern people are a little more grumpy than folks in the South... gotta be the toll roads. I would need a full time regiment of psychotropic drugs if I lived here. I seriously paid more in tolls than I did for my campsite.
Not only did the road toll for me, I actually paid money for accesss on roads that were so packed with cars that I couldn't drive much over 5 miles per hour. Seriously, I drove my first 450 miles in 7 hours. My last 150 miles took six hours. And I paid them for the priviledge... hahahaha.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Fugue State Prevention 101
Albert Dadas is the subject of one my favorite philosophy books by Ian Hacking, entitled "Mad Travelers." It details many case notes from the first 'fuguer' - or the first person to suffer from a now "extinct" mental illness in which people would disappear for months on end only to reappear, usually in jail, with no recollection of where they'd been. People suffering from fugue were traveling amnesiacs driven by the compulsion to get out of town and blocked from remembering their journey outside of hypnosis or other methods of reaching the subconscious.
This "disease," oh so mysterious, appeared in the late 1800's around the birth of psychoanalytic practice reached a peak of several thousand 'reported' cases (mostly in Europe)... then for some reason, it suddenly disappeared within about thirty short years (think about the motor engine being created). In fact, by the 1930's it was non-existent and for all extents and purposes the last fuguer wandered about the countryside around 1910.
Interestingly enough, the "disease" was almost predominately suffered by men.
I use the word 'disease' in quotations because debating whether fugue was real is still happens in some circles. The history of men traveling and questing is quite rich, starting with something as basic as Heroditus' writings and easily recognized throughout the Middle Ages in the "questing" motif often exemplified by knights and their squires. The difference of course being the lack of amnesia, but in all other matters Albert Dadas was in many ways a parody of Odysseus, or perhaps Oedipus.
Fugue reached it's height around 1890 or so when names like Charcot and William James were busy writing theses about what the 'disease' truly was. Hacking and others believe the illness was removed from society when popular tourism began and when the fantasy of quests and travels had been more fully explored and distributed to the public in writings by authors like Jules Verne. I think he's probably right.
But that doesn't really address the underlying principles at work in men that have been clearly documented throughout history, even in our earliest recorded works. Nor has it changed the nature of the "pilgrimage," which is to this day is still ensconced at the heart of many religions, such as Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
A man on a traveling quest is in fact a deep-seated, psychological need that is constantly searching for expression. Whether it is a cyclops, a dragon, or a windmill, there is also an adversary in each man's quest - or at the very least - something to overcome.
My journey begins in a few short hours. I trust it will contain no amnesiac quality; and yet, I also trust that it will serve as a reflection to my own subconscious.
Still, I do see this as a spiritual quest. And if history is any indication this is also serving as Fugue State Prevention 101.
A funny thought, indeed, but I feel like I'm probably the only one laughing. :)
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)"
This "disease," oh so mysterious, appeared in the late 1800's around the birth of psychoanalytic practice reached a peak of several thousand 'reported' cases (mostly in Europe)... then for some reason, it suddenly disappeared within about thirty short years (think about the motor engine being created). In fact, by the 1930's it was non-existent and for all extents and purposes the last fuguer wandered about the countryside around 1910.
Interestingly enough, the "disease" was almost predominately suffered by men.
I use the word 'disease' in quotations because debating whether fugue was real is still happens in some circles. The history of men traveling and questing is quite rich, starting with something as basic as Heroditus' writings and easily recognized throughout the Middle Ages in the "questing" motif often exemplified by knights and their squires. The difference of course being the lack of amnesia, but in all other matters Albert Dadas was in many ways a parody of Odysseus, or perhaps Oedipus.
Fugue reached it's height around 1890 or so when names like Charcot and William James were busy writing theses about what the 'disease' truly was. Hacking and others believe the illness was removed from society when popular tourism began and when the fantasy of quests and travels had been more fully explored and distributed to the public in writings by authors like Jules Verne. I think he's probably right.
But that doesn't really address the underlying principles at work in men that have been clearly documented throughout history, even in our earliest recorded works. Nor has it changed the nature of the "pilgrimage," which is to this day is still ensconced at the heart of many religions, such as Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
A man on a traveling quest is in fact a deep-seated, psychological need that is constantly searching for expression. Whether it is a cyclops, a dragon, or a windmill, there is also an adversary in each man's quest - or at the very least - something to overcome.
My journey begins in a few short hours. I trust it will contain no amnesiac quality; and yet, I also trust that it will serve as a reflection to my own subconscious.
Still, I do see this as a spiritual quest. And if history is any indication this is also serving as Fugue State Prevention 101.
A funny thought, indeed, but I feel like I'm probably the only one laughing. :)
Thank you again to my wonderful church family - and especially to wife whose support I could not do without. Her strength is what gives me mine. I trust in my quest I will be bringing her back something much more valuable than a tourist trinket.
____________________________________________________________
"Afoot and light-hearted I take
to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world
before me,
The long brown path before me
leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not
good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more,
postpone no more, need nothing, Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the
constellations any nearer, I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
(Still here I carry my old
delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I
carry them with me wherever I go, I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)"
~ Walt Whitman, from Song of the Open Road
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