The mind's eye, aphantasia, Buddhism, soda bread and Spring

It seems as if yesterday's weights post was a minor public service, if people are encouraged to do resistance strength training. Today the Freecycled small weights are already outside awaiting pickup, so there's another person onto it. And I continue with my own practice, always working to do the moves slowly, since I tend to rush. My besetting sin in many contexts.

Moving from body to the spirit, I've been reading Pema Chodron and today there was an oddly related article in Aeon online  magazine..

Written by Mette Leonard Hoeg, it discusses her own aphantasia and relates it to philosophies of life. We talked about aphantasia a while back in here, with that mind's eye test of visualizing, where people ranged from not much to very much, in terms of visualizing an object or visualizing remembering an event.

She makes the interesting point that to her, with no visualization capacity, the Buddhist notion of meditating is rather easy, since she has no images floating in her mind's eye to distract. She also has little attachment to places and objects, so Buddhist detachment comes rather naturally.

This made me wonder to what extent religious following in general is governed by brain function. I also wonder if those of us with a different brain function are being asked to fit into an ill-fitting religious or spiritual framework. Just wondering here. 

I know that I'm not an extroverted working in groups person, and much of religion and spiritual practice insists on group and community activity. Professed religious, monks and nuns,  are powerful in insistence on the value of community.  

I was taught, by professed nuns in the community that housed my high school (!) that hermits and mystics, lone rangers, were weak.  Yet so many of us don't thrive in groups. We learn to cope and manage, but that's not the same as getting the right fit.

Just wondering here, and considering the possibility that our place on the autistic spectrum is significant in spiritual terms. 

Anyway on to other important matters, soup and soda bread. I made celery soup, not one of my more successful, a bit low in flavor, but I also made a lovely loaf of soda bread, crunchy crust and buttery crumb. 

And since spring can't seem to get here, despite the equinox as of early evening, 5.24 EST, Sandra Boynton sums it up

Happy day everyone, in reality rather than theory, and please weigh in on my rambling and somewhat disconnected musing about personality, brain function and spiritual practice! 

Misfits box and aphantasia

Right after I posted yesterday, the Misfits box arrived, on time, complete except for the items they'd alerted me to. 

So it seems their website, which indicated not shipped, definitely not out for delivery, look for it Friday,  minutes before the email announcing its arrival, is not talking with the rest of the team. I'm guessing an issue between the newly-linked Imperfect and  Misfits online worlds. Appropriate when you think about it.

Far be it from me to complain about an on-time delivery, and here It is

The biggest butternut squash ever, and giant sweet potatoes. Enough for two pots of soup, so containers of cooked, cubed, squash and sweet potatoes are now in the fteezer, along with enough soup for the week. Some kale because no spinach at a good price. Cherries because no apples (!). I think I'll struggle through!

Last evening so tired after prepping, washing, freezing, sweeping floor, breaking down boxes for recycle, cooking, washing dishes, I just managed a cup of soup. It went down well, usual seasoning of salt, Old Bay, turmeric, nutmeg, added milk, dash of lemon juice.

I'd already done a good walk, and various other things, busy day.

While I was out walking I noticed behind s house fence, right where I walk 

Dumping started again. Loose papers out of frame, blowing about. This is close to where we had the massive problem last year, now resolved. As you see, contractors are at work

I've alerted management to insist they take away the debris when they finish. It's illegal for homeowners to put construction debris into the waste stream, so that's when dumping happens. Brendan, our manager,  promises to be on it. So we'll see. 

A lot of contractors claim debris is the homeowner's problem because they don't want to bother disposing of it in approved places to which they have trade access. 

In fact my next door neighbors rejected three contractors for their renovation before finding one who would dispose of the debris.

This kind of thing is often the difference between a nice place to live and a rundown development. Considering these townhouses are in the $400k market, they're worth caring for.

No, we paid nothing like that. We bought one of the last three houses to be sold, when the builders were desperate to finish their responsibilities for the development. So we offered a ridiculously low price, and were amazed when they said Done!

Back to now, I just came across this interesting thinking. It's about the ability to visualize. Some people have it to a marked extent, all the way to people who can't fathom what it's like.  No connection with intelligence, none, just variations in brain function. Take a look.

On being asked to visualize an apple, or any object or scene.

One is marked visualization, on a scale to 5 which is the absence of it. It's just interesting, not vital, definitely not an indicator of other abilities. Not a puzzle with a right answer! 

Happy day everyone, posting early because Misfits changed my plans for the better. Let's hope if your plans change without your agreement, it's for the better. 

And if we can't visualize the better, don't worry, let it flow over us. Let's be the pond, not the fish darting about in it.