The Loud Noise
Oct 04 through Oct 30 2004
Definitions:
1) By mode I mean a set of processes and beliefs that constitute in either an active way, or an inactive way, the means by which I think.
2) By revelation I mean that which sparks a shift in mode.
3) By period I mean a determinate amount of time that is characterized by a mode.
4) By affections I mean those changes and effects to a mode that arrive primarily with a revelation.
Modal Thought:
At many times in my life, between major shifts in modes of thinking, I often slide from the radiant vibrancy that arose with the shift of thought-positioning into a lull. This descent, or moderating, is often quite slow in manifesting. For some time after a new revelation, I will actively think through that mode, but as time goes on, I either (a) incorporate the mode as my standard, or (b) the mode slips away into the night.
If (a) occurs, then what follows is typically a period of positive mental contentment. or perhaps a period during which no active searching must be done for a better way of being. It is a mode that is applicable to the current state of location and situation in a way that would be coherent with the philosophy of Nietzsche.
If (b) occurs, then what typically follows is a dumbness that glides slowly over my consciousness. I become less and less aware of the active mental states that preceded, and forget the brilliance of the preceding revelation. This is a preconscious activity that is not recognized until attention turns an eye on it. A sort of anti-revelation occurs at this juncture, if I’m attentive in my mental reflections (whereas, if I am not attentive, this state will continue until another extreme revelation manifests itself to my conscious mind). I often become aware that I have allowed my reflectiveness to slide from conscious mode, and go searching for the previous revelation and its affections, to either re-live them in the imagination, or to re-evaluate them. In either case, the goal is to find out what went wrong, or what I’ve gained (resulting in a) or lost (resulting in b).
Once I turn my attention’s eye on the invisible (a) or defunct (b) mode that now is active, I become aware of either (a) or (b). Result (a) is self-explanatory. Result (b), however, is more difficult, and always requires more reflection, for it may turn out that parts of the defunct mode are in fact just invisible affections running on silent but are hidden and can be shifted in category to (a). It is this idea of “the hidden” that I wish to explicate now, which will help to explain category/result (b).
Hearing the noise:
In the event of result (b), upon introspection, what is discovered is the lack of an active mode, unless some invisible affections are uncovered (this we shall don result/category (c).) Assuming that (c) is not the case, then what remains? There cannot be, it seems, a lack of mode. A mode must be present. In a pure (b) I often do not notice until a revelation occurs, which turns on the light switch and makes all the came before obvious as an empty void. Yet, when I do turn my attention’s eye on program of my thought processes (mode), and I find no active affections, I usually stall out. I realize that I am living in an unreflective period. But what lies below: What is occurring at the modal level?
This is the question that I have brought before my internal council for review and resolution. An investigation has produced these findings thus far:
1) No affections are currently running.
2) There appears to be no trace of a revelation.
3) Blankness is found at bottom.
Another investigation was launch to explore this blankness (also “the hidden” from above). This investigation reports a “white noise” running at the bottom. There is a blinding white static noise. A more visual way to speak of this would be to imagine a television set tuned to a channel that it does not get reception for. One can clearly see the black and white static, and hear the noise that accompanies it.
Interpreting the sounds:
The next logical question is, “What is the nature of this white noise?” What is it composed of (and in a Wittgensteinian move, what is its function if not just nonsense [perhaps remove this later]).*
There are two hypotheses that I have arrived that should be explored. First, that this is just the bottom of the soul. There is nothing underneath; it is the limit of the universe. When no mode in place, it is just that, there is no mode running. The program is empty and idling. This white noise is what is heard when there is nothing to hear. It is not unlike what occurs in a completely silent room, or a vacuum. The ears cannot find any sound, but one will admit to hearing noises. Sometimes a humming or ringing, other times perhaps even phantom voices and breaths. We have all experienced this phenomenon. Lying in bed, the room silent, trying to drift into slumber, but concentrating too hard on the silence. The silence becomes overwhelming and your ears start playing tricks on you. And even though you know that the noises are not from without, you cannot help but hear them. In almost a sickening surrender you fall asleep to the sounds of the universe’s limit.
The second hypothesis follows logically from the first. If there is a noise, then there must be something running. If one tunes the television to a channel that there is no reception for and receives static, one must remember that the television is still on. It’s just that the channel is scrambled or not receivable due to equipment failure or distance from the source. The above hypothesis disproves itself in this way. For that hypothesis to be correct what must be experienced is pure blackness; the blank screen that one sees when the television is truly turned off.
It seems then that humans cannot experience hypothesis one, unless they have died. The television cannot have a black screen unless it is off.
Yet perhaps the station is broadcasting a black screen.
This may be a case, but there would still be the presence of some sound(s). The speakers would hum with something for there is still electricity coursing through them (assuming there is no equipment failure). Thus a human alive, and without inhibiting abnormalities, will always experience something, for they cannot help the electricity running through their bodies.
Then perhaps this white noise is the lack of a program running on our CPU (the brain/mind). The computer is still turned on, but is just sitting and waiting. The mind is idling.
Other processes are still running, for how could one have a revelation if there was no activity at all. And further…??? ( I forgot what I wanted to say here)
This is a valid point. Perhaps as many other philosophers, I require a distinction between the brain and the mind. Yet I make no attempt, at this juncture, to try and determine of what sort they are, substantially or otherwise. Thinking occurs in both. Yet, it is the idea of reflective thought that we need to consider. This occurs in the mind. It is a program thereof, much as a word processor is a program within a computer. This program doesn’t have to be active, or running at all, for the computer to continue on its scheduled tasks. We use this program to write our history, both internal and external, and can go back and read what has been written before, and edit as necessary the tale of our individual lives. So the idle white noise is that which occurs when we are not writing, or reading, or having the program open at all. Electricity is maintaining the possibility for such a program to open again, and is creating the noise we hear.
Questioning the logic:
Not a few questions rise from all this…..[to be finished later]
notes:
is god broadcasting? is god at the keyboard?
* Everything following this was added on Oct 30th.