The Jeshire Cat

Possibly the most startling thing about our individual existence is that it is continuous.  It is an unbroken thread – we have been living this same moment ever since we were conceived.  it is memory, and to some extent sleep, that gives us the impression of a life of discrete parts, periods, or sections, of certain times or “highlights.” (464)

After reading this part of Viola’s essay, I was totally floored.  I think I sat still and thought for about 10 minutes.  In fact, I’d have to say that a lot of Viola’s essay really made me think…but I didn’t get very far with some of it.  Anyways, back to the part that I (hope I) understood:  never before had I considered life one long moment.  Our perception of this one moment, this now is constantly changing.  The way we view the present depends solely on every other “present” moment we’ve experienced.  It is in this way that memory breaks up the perception of our lives.  I also really am intrigued in the way that sleep acts as a way to break up our lives.  I guess sleep acts as a divider within a single notebook – multiple sections appear within the binding but really make up one single unchanging entity.

If life truly is one long stream of present moments, it is like a film.  We can only appreciate what is before us:  neither can we completely remember the past or predict the future.  I really liked that Viola stated that “we only see the narrow slit of “now.”  As McCloud points out, life is not at all like a comic.  Furthermore, our perspective is forever skewed and incomplete.  This is a topic that has always interested me.  Since I was 10, I’ve tried to picture my experiences through the eyes of someone with me.  I have always been baffled by the idea that no two people can ever have the same experience.   

I also wanted to discuss holism.  I am currently taking Anthropology 100 and holism is a concept on which we spent quite a bit of time.  From an anthropological perspective, to utilize holism is to attempt to understand every aspect of a culture as you learn about the smaller parts.  Therefore to understand the gender ideologies of a culture, you must learn about the social structure, etc.  To me, it is really interesting to apply holism to technology.  Digital computer do, in fact, think of structures and concepts form a holistic point of view.  They allow you to act and edit within a structure while maintaining and understanding its overall point and framework.

And, just for thought…who are you, the porcupine or the car and driver?

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