I had a great idea for a blogpost this morning in that twilight state between sleeping and waking. It was truly inspired and part of me said, write it down. Instead, I drifted back to sleep. Didn't write it down. And now I can't remember it. I know that the title had two parts to it. Maybe it was some sort of compare and contrast. Next time, I'll write it down. That's why writers are supposed to carry around notebooks (I do, but I often forget to use it). That's why we're supposed to leave paper and pen at the bedside. For awhile--I mean for about a week--I used a digital voice recorder. The MP3 part has kept my attention; the voice recorder part didn't. I never got over the self-consciousness of talking into the mike (I hope I get over that before I make my radio documentary).
Not every idea that comes in the night will survive the test of full consciousness, but it's worth taking note nonetheless. Today, I'll end with a joke (qualification: it's a philosophers' joke): The night before a philosophy exam a student had studied as much as she thought she could. She decided that sleep would serve her better than more Aristotle. In the middle of the night she had a dream in which she had philosophical debates with Aristotle, Descartes, and Kant. In each debate, she said something so brilliant that it shamed the great philosophers into destroying their entire body of work, rendered irrelevant and ridiculous by her insight. The groggy student knew that this idea of hers would be the key to an A+ on her exam (to say the least), so grabbed for a pen and paper and scribbled it down before falling back to sleep. Come morning, she woke up and recalled, with excitement, that she had the answer to all philosophical questions written down on the paper beside her bed. She reached over and grabbed the notepad. In nearly illegible script she read: "Yeah, well that's what you think!"
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I hope I'm not the only non-philosopher who had to think about that joke to get it... :) What was it about the recording did you not like? Was it listening to yourself or the actual recording?
I'm not sure how non-philosophers react, generally, but I'm experimenting. The ineffectiveness of the rebuttal, combined with how often it's exactly what we want to say to someone's argument or theory, sends philosophers rolling on the floor with laughter.
OK, I just reread the post, and the joke is funny. I was half asleep last night when i read it and thought the punch line, Was, "Yeah, well, what do you think?" And I was like, huh? But now that I read the actual words, it is funny. :) DOH.
Good. I'll put a check mark in the "earth people get it too" column. :)
For the record, I did get the joke and I am not a philosopher. I was not, however, ROTFL :-)
For a while I tried keeping a dream journal next to my bed. I figured this would help me remember my dreams, be an entertaining read, and maybe let me discover something about myself. All I discovered was that my dreams are long, complicated, and make no sense whatsoever. Is that the real me? ;-)
I won't conjecture as to whether that's the real you...let's just say that if that's the case, you're not alone. I think another part of what makes the joke funny is the look of anticipation on the philosophers' faces when you are telling it a group of philosophers.
Hypnogogic and hypnopompic states, they're called (falling asleep and waking). I've read and thought a lot about that gray area. (So I thought the joke was really funny) I've come up with a few of those lines myself- also pages I wrote after a few glasses of wine, the kind you think are brilliant at the time. But on the other hand, the idea itself (if not the wording) can often lead to a great story.
LOL Repeater. I've been there after some wine-- or other substance. :) I think I spent my whole freshman year of college thinking of "brilliant" ideas.
Bug and Repeater, you're both very brave. I don't even *try* to write anything if I've had a couple of glasses of wine!
LOL! The joke made me laugh. Most of the stuff I scribble in the middle of the night is crap, crap, crap. Ah, well.
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