Folks love patterns.
In the news and entertainment folks often talk about patterns as if they’re able to predict the future. We hear all the time what narcissists like the president do, yet he continues to surprise us. Why is that?
Patterns are not knowledge. They are finding similar things that go together within your subset of information. That’s a big difference. Patterns do not magically happen. You magically see them.
A cool word here about patterns.
Apophenia is the tendency to see connections in unrelated items.
This is where we are at collectively as a society, in my opinion. So much bullshit is on the internet it’s possible to bolster a belief in anything. It’s made me very skeptical of everything. And I think I’m right to be that way.
Chaos makes sense.
Patterns do exist, I’m not saying they don’t. I am saying it’s wrong to seek them out in an attempt to understand and explain things. That’s a head job. Although they may exist, they do not exist for you to understand tough subjects. You’re making a pattern at that point to verify what you suspect. Life doesn’t work that way.
Allow me to introduce chaos. Chaos is the opposite of patterns. It means no patterns. Chaos does not mean “all bad.” It’s the box of chocolates of timeline.
Patterns are awesome! Sure! If you’re religious.
One reason for this pattern-seeking behavior is religion. Religion itself makes sense out of life for its participants with patterns and prophecy. If you can swallow all that, sure. I can see how The Fall of Rome resembles modern times. Whatever you say. Just know, I took a course on that from Yale, The Fall of Rome, and I disagree.
The truth is our timeline is a straight beam from beginning to end. No patterns, no cycles. Time doesn’t stop. And a supreme being isn’t trying to put a bow on it. But the truth is not as cool as the patterns.
How about “disorder?” I think that is the word.
“Apophenia”, came up back when they were making names for symptoms of schizophrenia. There’s a few of them. I like thinking about “epiphany” and “apophany” and the difference. Epiphany is a realization of the world around you that’s true. Apophany is finding a pattern you need to validate your beliefs from the information available to you. A gambler realizing they need to stop gambling is an epiphany. The gambler seeing patterns in the chips or games and betting on that is an apophany. “The house always wins,” epiphany. “I only need a few more rolls.” Apophany.
You got to know when to hold ‘em..
So many folks are the gambler here. Many don’t even gamble but they are playing against the house. Because they’re playing, they don’t seem to notice the reality. I wish more than anything humans would knock down the desire to “play” a little bit. It’s just not time for it. But the house sure isn’t going to tell you that. They’re getting new games every day.
They might talk about patterns or something. That kind of talk keeps folks playing.
A sample of Djembe, Bass, and Wurlitzer “sounds” patterns.
I had a lot of fun yesterday making this. Just depositing here in case anyone wants to know where I am at. Enjoying music very much right now. I find solace playing djembe for several minutes on one pattern. Soothing. I get it.
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