Posted by Raul on November 8, 2010
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For the first 47 years of my life I had an excellent vision. I could read a street sign from a block distance; a wall calendar from across the room, etc. But for the past six months my vision went down, and now I have to use glasses with a 1.00 increase in both eyes when reading.
In order to see easier and not having the frame of the glasses bugging me when looking around, I bought the biggest size glasses I could find, so they cover almost to my ears (well, not that much). That way I don’t see the frame and I can just move my eyes to see what’s on the sides, instead of having to move my head (And I got now a pretty cool 70’s look J ).
Then I realized…for most of my life I have been using my peripheral vision together with the central one…two sets of information at the same time to get to know what’s around: The central vision for what I’m working on, and the peripheral to remain aware of my surroundings.
Also, when in need of looking to something that’s within about 150 degrees I use peripheral and, when that’s not enough, just move the eyes slightly without moving the head, in order to save time in acquiring the needed information.
Now that I have to use glasses, if I move just the eyes, the vision jumps from looking through glasses to without glasses, unless such glasses are huge, like goggles (which I haven’t found yet)
All this got me thinking…does the use of prescription glasses have an influence in the way we think?
Let’s suppose for a moment the difference between someone who never used glasses (like me) and someone who always used glasses from a very early age.
The person who never used glasses might be accustomed to move the eye balls more than the person using glasses, who might be accustomed to move the head instead of the eye balls, so to keep the eyes within the surface of the glasses to retain the corrected vision.
Could this mean that someone who never used glasses might be used to get more information of the surroundings, compared to someone who always depended in corrected vision? And because of being accustomed to have more information, requires more of it to make any decision as a normal condition, compared to someone who is used to wear glasses that maybe take decisions based in less information?
When driving, I tend to keep the central vision on what’s immediately in front, and use the peripheral vision to “keep an eye” on the vehicles, streets and pedestrians by the sides. Maybe someone wearing prescription glasses doesn’t have all that information, unless moving the head from side to side all the time. Or simply goes by with less information about the surroundings when making a driving related decision?
Based on this, maybe there is a difference in the decision making process from people who never used prescription glasses to those who always wear them. Maybe those who need prescription glasses from an early age might be able to make faster decisions, since they are accustomed to deal with less information under the same conditions.
Just curious.
Raul
Posted by Raul on November 1, 2010
When I was about nineteen years old, I spent several days putting together a jigsaw puzzle while listening over and over again to the song “A Song for all Seasons” from the British band Renaissance. Up to these days, when I listen to that song, I can experience the same feelings; even smell the same scents I perceived at that moment. Like becoming surrounded for a different time and space at the same place and time in the now.
One of the things that help me remember a situation for future enjoyment is using the same music or song; listening to it several times while doing the activity.
It seems the brain learns to associate the sounds with the other sensorial inputs, and creates a complete memory that includes vision, hearing, smell, touch, etc. So the memory is more than a “picture”, but rather it becomes a “feeling”.
Later on, even after many years have passed, if I want to re-live that moment, all I have to do is listen to that specific music and the moment lived so long ago comes back and surrounds me, creating the past environment I was in back then. It is like time travel to the past, and that gives me the opportunity to experience the same situation again, hearing the same sounds, smelling the same scents, and even experiencing the same temperatures (cold, warm, hot) that I felt before.
Do you have a song that, every time you listen to it it’ll bring memories that you cannot stop? Maybe like when you were dating someone and dancing a slow song that enticed you to…well…you know what I mean!
So, based on that, many years ago I started doing sort of the opposite, just for the fun of it. I searched for music that could represent a heavy memory and, while remembering that moment from the past, I listened to the music over and over again.
One of those experiments was about the times I was less than seven years old, and have those fever attacks that created hallucinations that made me see weird things. After a long time searching for music that would represent the feelings, I found the song “At the Gates of Delirium” from the rock band “Yes”. So I listened to that song many times while concentrating on the images that were in my memory from the moments of hallucinations, and the physical feelings they created.
Today, if I want to relive those moments, I just listen to the song again and instantly I’m back inside that strange world of things moving around and changing shapes in front of my eyes…the big wall that grows and grows by my side, to become a barrier that touches the sky, separating this side from the other, the unknown. The ocean becoming a giant wave that slowly grows to the sky and moves forward to where I am standing, to cover me and kill me without anything for me to do; so the feeling of impotence and being so small, so insignificant against nature, and the “other” forces.
Crazy isn’t it?
But the point for this post is that we can use music to retain and make easy to reach many of the memories from the past, without the need of pictures or videos that, no matter how good quality they might be, could never bring back all the details that makes the difference between “seeing” a memory from “living” it all over again.
If you want to try it, all you have to do is chose a heavy memory, something that was a very important moment for you; then search for a melody or song that would represent the best possible the feelings of that moment in the memory; to finally listen to that melody many times while remembering all the details that conforms that memory. Years later, when you want to relive that moment, all you have to do is listen to that melody again and you’ll be back in time.
Give it a try! It is pretty cool 
Raul
Posted by Raul on August 5, 2010
Just for the fun of it!
Have you felt sometimes like something is wrong about life? Like things are out of place? Not in the way they should be? Well, I discovered the problem!
We are born the wrong way! We should be born old people and die as a baby.
Let me explain:
We should be born as an old person, with all the experience and knowledge of a lifetime accumulated, having a pension already so parents wont have to worry about our sustenance.
With that experience and knowledge, we would know exactly what we want from life and what to do with it, so there’ll be no wasting time learning and searching for “what to do with ourselves”
As time goes by we would grow stronger so accomplishing the required tasks to achieve our dreams would be easier and easier.
After the first ten years of our lives we would be already in the right track to reach our biggest accomplishments and become famous and filthy rich.
As time keeps going by we will become younger, stronger and handsome, plus the already earned fame and riches, so we would be able to enjoy all that fame and money in a young, strong body and simply blow out all our riches in parties, drugs and fun.
By the end of our lives we would be cute, little babies and our parents will take care of us (no need for nursing homes) and at the moment of our death everybody would cry from their hearts (who doesn’t lament the departure of a cute baby?)
So there you have it! We are born the wrong way and that’s why things seem to be upside down in this life.
Just kidding!
Raul
Posted by Raul on December 21, 2009
His hand moved quickly to reach for the pen and accidentally in the process touched the cup of coffee on the side, at the edge of the table. Some of the coffee was spilled and the cup started to fall to the kitchen floor.
A fraction of a second!
-He saw the cup, the shape, the colors, the image engraved in it.
-The moment when he opened the gift and found inside the cup.
-Her smile while looking at him expecting his approval for the gift.
-Giving her a hug and a kiss to thank her for the gift.
-Trying the new cup with some fresh brewed coffee.
-Holding the cup while enjoying the aroma.
-Spending some time looking at the cup and the engraved picture in it.
-Smiling at her to let her know that he liked the gift.
-Carefully washing the cup after using it for the first time.
-Finding a preferred spot for the cup in the kitchen.
-Using the cup for some coffee to relax after they had a fight.
-Looking at the cup and remembering so many good moments together.
-Taking the cup with him in that business trip so to have something from her.
-Getting mad when wanted a coffee in his cup and found it with something else in the refrigerator.
-He smiled in his mind!
-His surprise when in that road trip she served him coffee from the thermo in his cup.
-When did she put the cup in the baggage?
-Looking for the cup at the hotel room before leaving.
-Suspecting of someone taking it without permission.
-Finding it in the bathroom where he forgot to bring it back.
-Accustomed to see the cup in the preferred spot in the kitchen.
The cup touched the floor and instantly went into a thousand pieces that spread all over the kitchen. He remained there for a couple of seconds looking at the mess on the floor before letting some bad words out and standing from the chair to pick up the broken cup and clean up the mess.
