A Taste of the Past

A Taste of the Past

There is something I have experienced many times similar to deja vu but not deja vu. Deja vu for me, is like a more specific positioning, like a carbon copy vision, a narrower but more accurate sense of being in that point before, if articulated, “I remember/sense being in this place and moment before.” However, there is something else...like a taste of the past, caused by sensory triggers or a combination of them...like the wind on the skin, perhaps the lighting, the weather, an aroma....I am not talking of a resemblance, not speaking about a similarity and recalling of attributes. It is more potent, like your experience is sensing a feeling, a taste of twenty years ago or something...you can not touch it but its scent is being left on your soul, your mind, your emotions, psychology...its the atmosphere and experience, like a small version of time travel. It can trigger the desire to want to escape backwards, seek refuge in the past from the present. Our bodies are like time machines at the end of the day, we move through time and are mentally projected backwards and forwards.

I wonder if any of you know what I am talking about, it is difficult to put into words. The atmosphere is different in each decade. The culture changes slightly each decade. Societies, communities, nations and even families are not stagnant. If we could transport ourselves back fifteen or twenty years into the mindset that we held back then (if you were old enough or even even existed), how different would our psychology, emotions and thinking be? Would we recognize ourself in our own body? Would we remember who we have been before? Even our beliefs may change over time, major beliefs and lesser details. Our beliefs drive our thinking, which in turn drive our objectives and actions. So twenty years ago we may have been walking left but if we had the benefit of hindsight or the benefit of our time-transformed personalities we would walk to the right, i.e. in the opposite direction. What if we could transport our self of today back twenty years to be surrounded by the past but without changing our current views at all. How alienated would we feel and with who would we associate. I know personally, that the 'me' of today would not have made so many decisions in the past and I would not have made so many associations and relationships. I do have regrets for lost time and opportunities before I had been shaped to make wiser and more knowledgeable decisions. But things have past, the road of time has been built as it is and there is nothing to be gained by wishing for a change that can't happen. And a lesson is usually deeper ingrained by experience rather than theory. However, this does not mean we can not try to project backwards to learn lessons and project forwards in anticipation of the way things work.

I strayed from my opening point in the previous paragraph, my issue was that there are many elements to how we feel at any given moment e.g.:-

• The weather
• The lighting
• Our physical comfort or discomfort
• Our beliefs
• Our thoughts
• Our emotions
• Our objectives
• Our relationships
• Our sense of place
• Our presence or absence of purpose
• The progress along a defined path
• The clarity or cloudiness of perception
• Our awareness of environment
• Political circumstances
• The collective culture in society
• Our mental stability or instability
• Happiness or sadness
• The memory of our past actions
• The memory of past events

The configuration of these elements and their various intensities may well have a role in the unexplained probable uniqueness of feeling that can almost appear to occur twice, yet their complexity and uniqueness would point to that being impossible. This would lead us to believe the feeling is metaphysical or supernatural. I am reminded of the Quranic words:- 

“They ask thee concerning the soul. 

Say: 'The soul (cometh) by command of my Lord: 

of knowledge it is only a little 

that is communicated to you.'" 

(QURA'N al Israa' 17:85) 

We could try to remember and feel the past moments in order to detect the conditions which caused a particular sense or state. This too though, would expectedly be a futile exercise. The specific sensation or taste of experience we feel repeated is very subtle and mysterious. It's elements are probably not detectable or knowable, as these are matters of thought, consciousness and experience all of which are beyond human understanding. Cause and effect is a reality and mechanisms in history repeat themselves but our understanding of ourselves and reality is limited today as it was yesterday.

We want to have a second bite of something but we don't know what we were biting and neither do we know where we were when were biting it. We remember the feeling but we can't describe the feeling. We have felt something before but we don't know what or when.

Some people feel frustrated that they can not share their memories with others but this is similar to how our unique perception can't be shared with others who are present nor with those who are absent in space but not in time. Worse is the mental torture of not being able to reach backwards. Regret can be a painful thing, but if we were wiped of memory we would lose our identity, direction and personality. Our past can tell us where we are going to just as it tells us where we are coming from.

Memory is an amazing thing and a deceptive thing. Sometimes we are so sure of how things were in the past but then the evidence is uncovered to disprove our memory. But have you ever been so sure of your memory or witnessing of details that you feel history and the universe have somehow been changed for you alone, in order to teach that things are not as you think, even when you know? I have been so sure on some occasions that I am almost totally convinced this does happen. Or was I remembering on behalf of my double in a parallel universe? Or was it mixed up with a dream? Well in some cases, definitely not, as their was no history or sleep intervening. But that doesn't leave me free of thought implants does it? Or how about perception implants? That is, intervention in our perception of the current reality so that we see what is not there and don't see what is there? This latter case I know for sure happens.

Why should I, should we, want to recover the feeling of the past? Is that we know things are getting worse and want to turn back the clock? Is it a form of escapism from our current problems, or the current state of the world?   

Abu Hurayra (a companion) reported that the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:- 

 "The Hour (of Judgement Day) will not come until a man passes by the grave of 

another and says, 'If only I were in his place.' " 

(MALIK Muwatta Kitab al Janaai'z) 

Is it the desire to see the road that we failed to take earlier which caused us to reach our current dead end? Or is it an attempt to slam on the brakes as we rush too fast towards our graves? I feel partly that it is the deluded dream of an unobtainable refuge, because while hiding in space we can be found but its a great deal harder to find that which is hiding in the past.

“To Us are known those of you who hasten forward

and those who lag behind.” (QURA'N al Hijr 15:24)

We don't look up enough - When our vision hits the ground

We don't look up enough - When our vision hits the ground

We live in the digital age, the cyber age and the age of mass depression. We are used to hearing bad news personally and globally. Every time we make a personal effort to make change we immediately become aware of obstacles plotting to prevent our growth and success, these tests quickly can allow us to drop our heads and our vision.

When our vision is aimed at the ground our sight reaches less than our own height, or not much longer (unless we are looking to the horizon, but that wouldn't exactly be looking down, unless we are in an air balloon or on a mountain or something).

People of the past who were not so polluted by their own machinery had a dynamic relationship with the sky. They used the celestial bodies not only for navigation, but also for telling the time and the seasons but also their place in the cosmos, spiritually and psychologically.

“Blessed be He Who has placed in the heaven mansions of the stars, and has placed therein a great lamp 

and a moon giving light!” (QURA'N al Furqaan [The Criterion] 25:61)

When we look to the moon and stars we not only see a dazzling display of beauty but a reminder of the order and greatness that surrounds us in the universe. When we are surrounded by the sight of greatness and order, it can help us to align our minds with the aspiration for great actions and an ordered and purposeful life.

If we had never seen the moon before and we were to view it for the first time it would be an amazing sight, which would surely inspire deep thoughts and powerful feelings. Yet we are in the time when we see people with their gazes aimed downwards at their smartfones or busily texting some irrelevance to their friends who probably direct their mind into a trivial place.

"Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, 

and the alternation of night and day,  

there are indeed signs for men of understanding." 

(QURA'N aali I'mraan 3:190)

We are used to being tuned into the noise on the ground rather than the tranquillity of the heavens and thus our attention lowers our mood. 

When we expand our vision by looking upwards air fills the lungs, the universe expands and we escape the prison of our own misdirection. 

What may we see up there? The moon, the stars, a constellation, a tremendous cloud, a beautiful sunset, a majestic lightning display, a soaring free bird, a tall noble tree, or a shooting star or man-made satellite, a sign of human advancement, providing us with television because some men decided to look up rather than down?

"Men who celebrate the praises of God, standing, sitting, 

and lying down on their sides, 

and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth,  

(With the thought): 

"Our Lord! Not for nothing have You created (all) this! 

Glory to You!..." (QURAN aali I'mraan 3:191)

A word on perception at a distance with regard to relationships

A word on perception at a distance with regard to relationships. 

If we look at something at a distance we lose perspective, are devoid of detail and can not see the surrounding reality relevant to our object of focus. Binoculars or a telescope may improve some things, while at the same time distorting others and narrowing our vision and closing our peripheral vision from the panorama. Distances can also become illusory. I remember once seeing a mountain and trying to estimate the distance to its peak in terms of football pitches. I estimated its distance at perhaps ten pitch lengths away. I did eventually reach its peak, but I was way out on the distance, it was much further. Perhaps I had not considered enough the diminishing relative estimation of length along with the illusion of a steep incline presenting the whole distance to be covered. We can see the whole moon through 5mm hole, but the moon wont fit through a 5mm hole. The angle or trajectory of distance to be covered can alter the impact of our experience of it, 100m to be covered by walking is very different to covering 100m on a vertical climb, especially while looking down.

I have in fact mistaken people for plants and other inanimate objects at a distance. This is not due to an extreme defect in eyesight but rather the mind projecting its expectation onto my eyes, or 'brain editing' of the vision. I once saw a flag on a building and convinced my associates that it was a flag they are aware of, and they wondered how it had it had been put in such a position. The flag only resembled what they expected, but trust in me, plus the occasion, plus the suggestion in my words and intonation manipulated their perception so that they saw what I wanted them to see. Distance between the object and the viewer of course made this illusion more viable. I did afterwards inform them of my trick, but this interesting psychological experiment demonstrated how easily we can see what is not there or misperceive what is there. 

 Our limited intellects and knowledge prevent us from seeing ways and means, we may complain that there is no way to reach what has been exposed to us. More importantly, our limited minds and knowledge prevent us from seeing why our instincts chase after the wrong associations. All strangers are masked at a distance and our hearts are often masked from our intellects just as our perception is often veiled from reality.

 There is a hadeeth of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) that says  on the authority of Abu Darda' (a companion [sahaabi]) “Your love for a thing makes you blind and deaf.” (ABU DAWOOD) A person under the influence of passion or any emotional animation will not listen to sense nor see what is before their eyes. If they see what is clear, they may be misled into unlikely explanations and far-fetched interpretations in order to accommodate their 'rose tinted' view.

Our instincts and emotions often work against our own interests and this is why it is important to prevent their harm by thinking outside of ourselves, that is putting distance between what we want in the short term and what we want in the long term. 

 People generally seek to present themselves in a favourable light in order to seek benefit, we do the same ourselves but forget that others do this. There are levels of this behaviour, some may seek to conceal what is a humiliation of the past in order to progress in accordance with their beliefs and character (their previous slips being out of character). Another person creates a false personality in order to exploit people while hiding his true beliefs and intentions.

 At a distance in space (similar to distance in time) a person's word's, especially when written are a narrow window into a wider reality. At a distance can we easily verify the meaning and truthfulness of a person's words? At a distance we miss the prolonged witnessing of a person's speech and the consistency or inconsistency between words and actions. We do not witness their wider relationships with other individuals and society. Especially in the age of computer communication, we miss tone in speech and emotive expression, these often unveiling masked words.

 We may want something beyond our immediate reach, but rather than adopting all means to reach it, we should first consider whether the indicators that made us extend our reach were actually correct. In other words, we may want something but not actually want it if we knew it well. 

'BLUE ALIEN INVADERS' Latest Video Message from Society of those with Brown Eyes

BLUE ALIEN INVADERS:  "...You will be Blue..."

http://youtu.be/NZ4xiFXOzTw

If you control the mind the body will not resist what is imposed on it.

The eyes may not see what the mind is blind to. Society consists of different parts, often undisclosed to one another and whose origins remain hidden from most and whose mechanisms can be as subtle as a slow wind. How many have welcomed their invaders with open arms before they noticed the destruction caused by covert malicious intent?

If you seek the the symbolic keys to metaphorical doors, then come and join the Society of those with Brown Eyes.

Jo‎in here:-https://www.facebook.com/groups/browneyed/

This is the tenth video message from an ongoing project. It is full of metaphors and hidden meanings of import.

The symbolism of these videos are contained not only in the worded messages but also in the videography, the framing, background, gestures, sounds, music and objects presented. Many of the messages and symbols are multi-layered.

My Writings Revived - Zayd Depaor

Hello, I am Zayd Depaor and that is me above, not the fan, the one with the glasses on. Some of you may know me for my artworks, photography or videos, I am relatively active in facebook art groups and have blogs on my art, film and photography.

I have been an artist now for five years and expanded into film and photography as a consequence of promoting my art. However, for 20 years  I have primarily been a writer (that doesn't mean I learned how to read and write 20 years ago, maybe 17 years is more accurate in terms of serious output and published articles :) ).

I seem to have a psychological condition where I am like an ideas factory where the finishing plant was left incomplete. I have been for a long time writing many books, but I have had much trouble completing them. I am someone trying to do too many different things at once, so far, my attempts at remedying that problem have not been too successful. This blog is part of a new strategy to solve this organizational focus problem, but maybe it just end up adding to the problems, I hope not, God Willing.

Last year (2012) I had the the aim of completing between five and seven books. I didn't manage to complete one and now we are at the end of 2013.

What do I write about?

I write about many things, mainly things I consider important and which I hope will contribute towards change (for the better, change of myself and/or wider society).

I don't believe in writing for the sake of it, everything I have written so far has been due to some need or clear purpose. I am a lazy writer technically i.e. I rush to record my points before I forget them in notebooks, computer documents, scrap paper, envelopes etc. Hurriedly, I fill out a skeleton for a book, the main structure and will start fleshing out the chapters while my mind is driven, no time for punctuation, grammar or spelling, no time to correct typos...the end result? Lengthy works that are a mission to edit and correct.

Back to the point... Many of my writings are already online but not under my name. I have partially complete books which have reluctantly been sent to various parts of the world and people referred to them due to the unique research they contain on important issues. If my books are not fulfilling an unmet need then I will not continue with them. I write on the following areas and types of issues:-

• Art (philosophy of art, mainly my own and the wider theory of Islamic art objectives and symbolism)
• Positive Thinking (I know this a hackneyed term that is becoming quite annoying and populist, but I do have detailed and significant research and thought in this area and I need it myself in order to stay positive. )
• Alternative Economics
• Philosophy of Education especially 'Home Education'
• Ideological Issues
• Political Structures & Political Thought
• Psychology
• Ancient Civilizations
• Society
• Religion (I am a Muslim since 1993 but am interested in all religions, originally raised as a Catholic)
• Global Analysis
• Spirituality
• Colonialism
• Commentary on my Film and Photography
• Linux computer operating systems and their related application software (I write about this not from a technical perspective but more from its cultural, economic and political significance)
• Paranormal Phenomena
• Cosmology
• Philosophy of Science
• Alternative Science (and 'mainstream' science)
• Alternative Medicine
• Macro-Historiography

I study, read and write about all of these topics and others, many of them overlap and all are interconnected. But the value of my works and your own acceptance or rejection of my conclusions, allusions and protrusions in these spheres will only come to play when you read one of my books or some related content here or elsewhere. If you believe in God then please pray for my success in the completion of quality books. Thank you.