Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Structure is the savior
One tiny good thing about the current mess: It forced me to turn off the radio entirely. I already tossed the TV after the 2008 TARP coup. When ALL available input is poison, the fix is to turn off the input. Only music gets into my ears now.
While listening to Bach, another stupid convective thought struck.
In music and art and language and food, we need STRUCTURED input to defend our brain and body against CHAOS. Order is life, chaos is death.
The digestive system needs to chew on FIBERS. As Ellen Richards knew in 1900 and scientists later "rediscovered", preprocessed food overloads the system with raw nutrients, bypassing the analyzers and synthesizers. When the enzymes and bacteria are able to DO THEIR DUTY and disassemble fibers, they get a chance to synthesize the nutrients we really need. Spices help to liven up the bacteria.
The language system needs to chew on GRAMMAR. Preprocessed SHOCKING verbiage overloads the system with raw poison. When the brain is able to work in sequence on well-organized sentences with implicit meanings and metaphors, the neurons get a chance to synthesize the internal thoughts we really need. The metaphors keep the analyzers awake.
Same with music and art, though the mechanisms aren't as well understood. Bach and Debussy have structure with a few surprises, keeping the structure analyzers on their toes.
And the same with the immune system. When we encounter a mostly familiar variety of smells and microbes, the system can DO ITS DUTY, building defenses against the relatively rare surprises. When we're deprived of natural patterns (see LOCKDOWN), the system gets lazy and decadent, unprepared for an onslaught.
While listening to Bach, another stupid convective thought struck.
In music and art and language and food, we need STRUCTURED input to defend our brain and body against CHAOS. Order is life, chaos is death.
The digestive system needs to chew on FIBERS. As Ellen Richards knew in 1900 and scientists later "rediscovered", preprocessed food overloads the system with raw nutrients, bypassing the analyzers and synthesizers. When the enzymes and bacteria are able to DO THEIR DUTY and disassemble fibers, they get a chance to synthesize the nutrients we really need. Spices help to liven up the bacteria.
The language system needs to chew on GRAMMAR. Preprocessed SHOCKING verbiage overloads the system with raw poison. When the brain is able to work in sequence on well-organized sentences with implicit meanings and metaphors, the neurons get a chance to synthesize the internal thoughts we really need. The metaphors keep the analyzers awake.
Same with music and art, though the mechanisms aren't as well understood. Bach and Debussy have structure with a few surprises, keeping the structure analyzers on their toes.
And the same with the immune system. When we encounter a mostly familiar variety of smells and microbes, the system can DO ITS DUTY, building defenses against the relatively rare surprises. When we're deprived of natural patterns (see LOCKDOWN), the system gets lazy and decadent, unprepared for an onslaught.Labels: defensible cases, defensible spaces, defensible thymes, defensible times
¶ 12:20 AM
