Into the Void

The number one thing a bipolar can do is develop self-awareness. The ability to identify an impending crisis and take steps to prevent it makes a huge difference in the quality of your life. If a bipolar is so first-person that they don’t notice racing thoughts and they don’t have enough of a grasp of formal logic to recognize a delusion for what it is, I don’t see how meds can do anything other than make them easier to handle. “Easy to handle” is not, in my non-professional opinion, a positive therapeutic goal.

Some days I think every bipolar should be forced to take Abstract Algebra. That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger, eh?

Does the word “uncompromising” mean “having strong values” or does it mean “selfish, stubborn, and uncooperative?” Mostly I hear the word uncompromising in advertisements for large gas-guzzling SUVs. Stand your ground, you deserve as much gasoline as you can get!

Ok, let me parse that word that is so proudly used in advertisements, and worse, by our leaders.

Main Entry: un·com·pro·mis·ing
Pronunciation: \-?m?-zi?\
Function: adjective
Date: 1800
: not making or accepting a compromise : making no concessions : inflexible, unyielding
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary: uncompromising

Ah, inflexible. Are we talking about a lack of neuroplasticity again? I submit, then, that if a person is uncompromising then they have a mental deficiency that renders them incapable of making the compromises that smooth interpersonal and even international relationships. That explains a thing or two.

Main Entry: in·flex·i·ble
Pronunciation: \(?)in-?flek-s?-b?l\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin inflexibilis, from in- + flexibilis flexible
Date: 14th century
1 : rigidly firm in will or purpose : unyielding
2 : not readily bent : lacking or deficient in suppleness
3 : incapable of change : unalterable
— in·flex·i·bil·i·ty \-?flek-s?-?bi-l?-t?\ noun
— in·flex·i·ble·ness \-?flek-s?-b?l-n?s\ noun
— in·flex·i·bly \-bl?\ adverb
synonyms inflexible, obdurate, adamant mean unwilling to alter a predetermined course or purpose. inflexible implies rigid adherence or even slavish conformity to principle <inflexible in their demands>. obdurate stresses hardness of heart and insensitivity to appeals for mercy or the influence of divine grace <obdurate in his refusal to grant clemency>. adamant implies utter immovability in the face of all temptation or entreaty <adamant that the work should continue>.
synonyms see in addition stiff
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary: inflexible

HA! Merriam-Webster doesn’t have an entry for neuroplasticity. I guess they’re Republicans too.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”
– Dr. Suess

“My mother always said democracy is the best revenge.”
– Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of assassinated Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto, quoted in Time Magazine, January 14, 2008

RealMagick Article: The Seven Shaman Principles by Serge Kahill King

Thought for the Day:

Hallucination means “your dream doesn’t match my dream.”

Thought for the day:

“Actually, it seems to me the life of a middle aged male is a race between hair falling out of its own accord and getting ripped out over stress and irritation. Women have it harder—they have to rip it all out.”
– John Walker, founder of Autodesk in The Hacker’s Diet, Electronic Edition, 1993.

Technorati: American+Gothic Grant+Wood WASP

“Baseball bats are now the preferred weapon for many drug gangs and others who have a business need to administer behavioral reminders. They’re cheap, lethal, legal, untraceable, and hey! it’s the national pastime.”
— George Carlin

The common dogma [of fundamentalists] is fear of modern knowledge, inability to cope with the fast change in a scientific-technological society, and the real breakdown in apparent moral order in recent years…. That is why hate is the major fuel, fear is the cement of the movement, and superstitious ignorance is the best defense against the dangerous new knowledge. … When you bring up arguments that cast serious doubts on their cherished beliefs you are not simply making a rhetorical point, you are threatening their whole Universe and their immortality. That provokes anger and quite frequently violence. … Unfortunately you cannot reason with them and you even risk violence in confronting them. Their numbers will decline only when society stabilizes, and adapts to modernity.
G Gaia, AOL Member
Quoted on Wisdomquotes.com

Anosognosia for Hemiplegia: A Window into Self-Awareness

…Anosognosia brings questions of the origin of self-awareness to the forefront. How can someone lose the ability to know when she is or is not moving? Is this some type of elaborate Freudian defense mechanism, or is this person entirely unaware of her illness? How is self-awareness represented in the brain, and is this representation isolated from or attached to awareness of others? Though none of these questions are fully answerable at this time, research into anosognosia has provided scientists and philosophers with insight into some of these ancient questions of human consciousness.