Friday, April 14, 2006

Have you ever broached a "weird" subject with a "normal" person and experienced the disorienting feeling that you're talking into a vacuum? That the "listening" party has automatically tuned out?

I'm slowly becoming hip to Timothy Leary's advice, which I read long ago and haven't yet been able to find via Google. Leary's remedy to the "communication with normals" dilemma was elegant and simple: Don't bother trying. Because the effort is doomed from the first syllable and you'll only frustrate yourself. (At least that's what I remember him saying; maybe I'm confabulating.)

In either case, that's my new operative wisdom. I'd rather deal with a certain degree of isolation than risk ostracizing myself. At this point, three decades into my life, I simply don't see how the benefits of ceaselessly trying to make my point understood compensate for the accompanying frustration and sense of inadequacy. Above all, I don't want to risk rendering myself into a caricature -- because, in all likelihood, others will beat me to that anyway.

That ends today's bit of elitist sermonizing. I feel better already.

7 comments:

razorsmile said...

True dat.

Ray Palm (Ray X) said...

Mac:

From my own experience, people turn off for two reasons:

1] They perceive that you're a nerd. You don't care about things that concern the great unwashed masses such as celebrity gossip, "reality" TV shows, sports, etc. ("What do you mean that you never watched "American Idol?")

2] A nerd you may be, but one who threatens their sense of normalcy (i.e. mediocrity.) Never poke at someone else's reality (or lack of). The best they can do is come up with stock answers like "Well, I don't know exactly what kind of job I want, but something where I work with people," or "Well, I don't go to church, but I sorta do believe in God, you know, I think there's a great spirit or something," or "Well, I don't care about money, it's just a way of having fun with friends. Money itself isn't important. Can I borrow a ten from you?" If you persist with the subject after their stock answer, they just tune out.

Ray

Mac said...

Ray,

Good points. But have you ever felt that it goes deeper than that? That for all intents and purposes you're not even existing in the same universe?

BTW, I like your blog! I'll add it to my sidebar.

platts42 said...

I think the quote was: You can't talk to catepillars using butterfly language.

Yah, I get that all the time. While I get the weird looks, I'm the one who feels normal.

Ray Palm (Ray X) said...

Mac:

ThanX for the link to my blog.

You wrote: "But have you ever felt that it goes deeper than that? That for all intents and purposes you're not even existing in the same universe?"

Reminds me of the saying, "No man is an island." To some extent each person is an island unto himself, living within his own universe. Look at how different witnesses to a car accident can each have a different interpretation of the same event. One person might say the car was red, the other would claim it was yellow. An individual filters the world around him through his own biases and thought processes.

Maybe one day a device may be created that will record how individual minds process external reality. I'm thinking of the device that was shown in the movie, "Five Million Years To Earth." This device would actually show what is seen by the mind's eye. That way you would see that Subject One recalled the car being red while Subject Two imagines it as a yellow color.

I would like to hook up such a device on movie reviewers Ebert and Roper. Ever notice that sometimes on their TV program they review the same movie but act as if they had seen different versions? It would be fascinating to compare the movie -- the objective source -- to what each reviewer saw or recalls. Would one reviewer place more emphasis on the music soundtrack over the cinematography?

It's disturbing when you can't find a connection with most people, that you end up talking to them, not with them. I find that it can be the curse of empathy, a syndrome that most creative people have to deal with. You can empathize with another person, almost experiencing the same thoughts or emotions, but that person is unable to reciprocate.

I try to accept that my individuality is a strength and weakness at the same time. Anyway, it's better than being assimilated by the Borg.

Mac said...

Ray,

"Reality" appears to be a "consensual hallucination" along the lines of Gibson's cyberspace.

Anonymous said...

Talking to normals is like playing an adventure game from 10 - 15 years ago. Set questions result in set answers, if you ask a question that the progammer never intented, then the character you are addressing gives a lame "I know not of such things." type answer and stares at you. 'Normals' are just that, in games there called 'NPC's' or Non Player Characters, They can only go as far as their programming allows.
I find myself surrounded by them almost every day, empty vacumes of mundane existance.
Do you know what it's like having to explain your jokes and ideas to people who still watch TV soap opera's or Big Brother? Or get angry because you beat them at some video game, and you only beat them because you were relaxed and having fun, not uptight and "Vexed", and you wouldn't believe the amount of people I've met who had to watch Pulp Fiction 3 or 4 times in order to understand it. If your ever in England stay away from Wolverhampton! :(