Learning:
The Journey of a Lifetime
A Cloud Chamber of the Mind

February 2006 Philosophy Notebook

An Example of a "Learning Process" Journal (using the 2 colored box format)

Book: Wordplay by John Langdon

Source: Bantam Press, 2005.

This is a beautiful book, combining clever imagery with thoughtful prose. I want to begin my notes by simply identifying sentences that caught my attention. However I also want to try an Inspiration chart that shows some of the linkages between the words.

1:30 PM

• "Decades back, the landscape was littered with dots. I now see which ones are connected." [p. 3]
  
  
• "My contrarian mind may have been responsible for my resistance to the education I was offered, thus necessitating that I educate myself in ways that were designed - by me, obviously - just for me." [p. 3]

• "The most meaningful moment in this alternative education was my first encounter with the yin/yang symbol." [p. 4]
  
  
• "... play is a significant part of my creative process." [p. 4]
  
  
• Discovering the Tao:
  • "... the symbol's simple representation of polarized opposites and harmonious complements applied perfectly to most of the major forces inherent in our existence." [p. 6]
    
    
  • "Taoism, a basic tenant of which holds that each person shoud find his own way." [p. 8]
    
    
  • " 'Science has directly encountered [the yin/yang] theme in the study of dynamical systems, popularly termed 'chaos theory'. Chaotic behavior ... is dependent on a feedback mechanism, in which each of several factors interacts to determine the value of the others. It can be said that fractals are none other than microscopic images, resolvable to infinite but never ultimate detail, of the interaction between yin and yang.' " [p. 9]
    
    
• Yin and Yang:
  • The black yin shape synthesizes the feminine principle: darkness, inwardness, yielding, and the unknown; the white yang represents the masculine principle: light, protrusion, aggressiveness, and the overt." [p. 11]

• "Yin and yang represent nature's ability to keep things in balance in a constantly shifting process of give and take." [p. 15]
  
  
• Philosophy, Art & Science:
• "The word philosophy ... means 'a love of wisdom' - having the capacity to ponder truths." [p. 16]
  
  
• "The root of the word science, on the other hand, is the Latin word 'to know'. " [p. 16]
  
  
• "But the goal of art has never been to establish truth, only to provide more views of it." [p. 20]
  
  
• "In philosophy, science, and art, it is the process that is important. The process provides us with temporary truths..." [p. 22]
  
  
• Hypothesis/Thesis/Antithesis/Synthesis:
• "From my point of view, the ideal outcome of a debate is not the triumph of one side over the other, but the emergence of a third point of view in which both the thesis and the antithesis have been brought into harmony." [p. 23]
  
• "Synthesis is a combination of separate elements fashioned into a (synthetic) whole new entity. But a blend of the two ingredients would seldom be a satisfactory synthesis. ... gray - a compromise, and both sides have been compromised. But when the opposites of thesis and antithesis are pictured as yin and yang, however, they fit together in a very satisfying composite whole, with each side retaining its character and integrity." [p. 24]
  
  

• Theory:

  • "... theories describe not the way things work as much as our understanding of how they work." [p. 31]
    
    
• Ambiguity:
  • "... the situation can be understood from more than one point of view." [p. 34]
    
    
  • "If we really want to understand the world around us, we should embrace ambiguity and always try to see a situation from as many different points of view as possible." [p. 34]
    
    
  • "Generally, people don't want to have to see things from other points of view." [p. 34]
    
    
  • "All photos are accurate. None of them is the truth. - Richard Avedon" [p. 35]

2:30 PM Time for a coffee break. 3:05 PM

• Reality:
  • "The eyes of some insects have a thousand lenses or more. There are animals that can see colors in the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum. There are sounds beyond our range of hearings, and languages without words for certain colors. Are we arrogant enough to believe that what we experience is reality and what other individuals or species experience something other than that? The evidence suggests that each of us experiences a different 'reality' - and one that is well matched to our survival needs." [p. 36]
    
    
  • "... there's no doubt that many of the conflicts we experience - personally, culturally, internationally - are only understandable if we allow for the idea that people see things differently." [p. 38]
    
    
  • "Reality is as we perceive it to be. And perception is guided by expectation." [p. 38]
    
    
  • "We're looking for a scenario that allows for the fact that day after day no one on our block walk into the maple tree at the corner because all of us can see that it's there. ... But we also need a scenario that can encompass the idea that each of us creates our own reality according to the idiosyncracies of the way our senses gather and transmit information to the brain." [p. 38 - 39]
    
• Orientation:
  • "But one of the objectives of this book is to observe polarized opposites and to find a synthesis that can unite them." [p. 42]
    
    
• Symmetry:
  • "... an image of rotational symmetry can be achieved by producing a vertical mirror image, and then a horizontal mirror image of the vertical mirror image." [p. 46]

This is a wake-up call to get the mathematics of symmetry under control so that statements such as the above are obviously true, without any careful thought.

• Truth & Beauty:
  • "... the external human form is intended to be symmetrical about a vertical axis... Such is the case with just about all living things. ... Things are symmetrical so they don't fall over. " [p. 48]
    
    
• Asymmetry:
  • "dissymmetry is a state of almost symmetry." [p. 52]
    
    
  • "... nature shies away from perfect symmetry, while manufacturing tends toward it." [p. 52]
    
  • "The 'flaws' in the symmetry create a tension, an excitement, as the viewer is attracted simultaneously by the placid beauty of the dominant symmetry and the disruptive detail." [p. 52]
• Reflect:
• Balance

  3:30 PM That brings my notes in balance with my reading.