for Athena, Who Still Has Not Picked Up Her Airline Ticket
I wonder about the lonely ticket,
I wonder if it will go to waste,
I wonder if she’s afraid of flying,
I wonder if she’s reading this
And sighing—
“Oh Dad, stop your fretting,
Do stop worrying me so,
I’ll get there in good measure,
Will arrive at my own pleasure.”
And so I’m reduced to bad poetry,
Reduced to a father’s art:
To love and to let go,
To presume silence does not mean no.
(Prague — September 26, 2001)
for Lady Carduelis
I come bearing amethyst flowers,
I come bearing gifts of jade,
I come on my mounted pony
Bearing kilos of Toblerone.
Her black eyes flash with pleasure,
Her black eyes flash with fire,
Her black eyes gleam hungrily
As I come with the Toblerone.
But what provokes this fierce passion?
What provokes this ancient desire?
Is it me on my mounted pony…
Or is it, I dare ask, the Toblerone?
(Prague — September 26, 2001)
(Prague, Czech Republic—December 18, 2006)
“Consciousness” is not a thing (anymore than “mind” is a thing or “soul” is a thing). Instead, what we call “consciousness” is the awareness of a streaming field of impressions, of the passage of those impressions: they come, they go. Our awareness of this passing is what we call “time.” Thus these two phenomena—“consciousness” and time—are inextricably connected.
Because of this linkage, if consciousness is manipulated, then so is the experience of time. And if time is manipulated, then so is consciousness. This latter event may someday pose interesting possibilities for space travelers. But more immediately, the linkage between consciousness and time raises intriguing possibilities for those who purposefully manipulate consciousness: To what extent can they also purposefully manipulate time?
This linkage also raises further questions: Is time no more than a value assigned to experience by consciousness? Or does time exist in the world independent of conscious perception? And, finally, is it possible both these questions can be answered with “yes”?