Re: Dalai Lama+ hands

February 23, 2005

(actually, Hands, Nature, Beauty and Frenzy...)

in short

Giordano Bruno, THE HEROIC FRENZIES

excerpt

http://www.esotericarchives.com/bruno/furori7.htm

Finally, some theologians, nurtured in the doctrines of various sects, seek the

truth of nature in all its natural and specific forms; and they consider that it

is through these forms that the eternal essence specifically and substantially

perpetuates the everlasting generation and mutation of things called into

existence by those who create and build them; and that over those who build them

reigns the form of forms, the source of light, the truth of truths, the god of

gods, by whom everything is filled with divinity, truth, being, and goodness.

Therefore truth is sought as something inaccessible, an object beyond

objectivity and beyond all comprehension.

For that reason it is impossible for anyone to see the sun, the universal Apollo

and absolute light as the supreme and most excellent species; but very possible

to see its shadow, its , the world, the universe, the nature which is in

things, the light shining through the obscurity of matter, and so resplendent in

the darkness. Therefore of all those who in the ways mentioned speculate much in

this deserted wood, very few are those who arrive at the font of . Many

remain happy with chasing the wild and less illustrious beasts, and most of them

find nothing to catch, for they have aimed their nets at the wind, and have

remained with a handful of flies. I say very few are the Actaeons to whom

destiny gives the power to contemplate naked, and the power to become so

enamored of the beautiful harmony of the body of nature, so fallen beneath the

gaze of those two lights of the dual splendor of goodness and beauty, that they

are transformed into deer, inasmuch as they are no longer the hunters but the

hunted.

For the ultimate and last end of this chase is the capture of a fugitive and

wild prey, through which the hunter becomes the hunted, the pillager becomes the

pillaged. Because in all the other species of the chase undertaken for

particular things, it is the hunter who seeks to capture those things for

himself, absorbing them through the mouth of his particular intelligence; but in

that divine and universal chase he comes to apprehend that it is himself who

necessarily remains captured, absorbed, and united Therefore, from the vulgar,

ordinary, civil, and ordinary man he was, he becomes as free as a deer, and an

inhabitant of the wilderness; he lives like a god under the protection of the

woods in the unpretentious rooms of the cavernous mountains, where he

contemplates the sources of the great rivers, vigorous as a plant, intact and

pure, free of ordinary lusts, and converses most freely with the divinity, to

which so many men have aspired, who in their desire to taste the celestial life

on earth have cried with one voice, Ecce elongavi fugiens, et mansi in

solitudine (Ps.54.8: 'Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the

wilderness.').

The result is that the dogs, as thoughts bent upon divine things, devour this

Actaeon and make him dead to the vulgar, to the multitude, free him from the

snares of the perturbing senses and the fleshly prison of matter, so that he no

longer sees his as through a glass or a window, but having thrown down the

earthly walls, he sees a complete view of the whole horizon.

And now he sees everything as one, not any longer through distinctions and

numbers, according to the diversity of the senses, or as varied fissures are

seen and apprehended in confusion. He sees the Amphitrite, the source of all

numbers, of all species, the monad, the true essence of the being of all things;

and if he does not see it in its own essence and absolute light, he sees it in

its germination which is similar to it and is its image: for from the monad, the

divinity, proceeds this monad, nature, the universe, the world; where it is

contemplated and gazed upon as the sun is through the moon, which is illuminated

by it, inasmuch as he finds himself in the hemisphere of intellectual

substances.

She is , she who is the being and truth of intelligible nature, in which is

infused the sun and the splendor of a superior nature, according as the unity is

distinct in that which is generated and that which generates, or that which

produces and that which is produced.

Therefore you will be able to draw your own conclusions about the mode of the

chase, the dignity of the hunter and the most worthy result of his effort. That

is why the frenzied lover boasts of becoming the prey of to whom he

renders himself, of whom he is esteemed a worthy consort, and so happy a captive

under his yoke, that he has no reason to envy any man. For no other man has been

given so much advantage as he. Nor has he reason to envy any god. For the

species of a divinity cannot be obtained by an inferior nature, and consequently

must not be desired, or even become the object of our appetite.

CES. I have understood well what you have said, and have been more than

moderately satisfied. Now it is time to return home.

MAR. Agreed.

February 23, 2005

Tammet is an autistic savant who solves

complex mathematics problems in seconds, speaks

seven languages and is even devising his own

language. Unlike most other such autistic

geniuses, he can talk about it. What does his

story tell us about human diversity?

A GENIUS EXPLAINS

By

The Guardian

Saturday, February 12, 2005

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html

the article follows this letter:

------------------------------------------------------

from nhnenews:

Dear friends,

I was not going to write you this morning, but

this article about British autistic savant

Tammet was too provocative. I found myself

identifying with aspects of his mix of extreme

abilities and extreme disabilities. Then I found

myself thinking of other people in my life whose

social skills are very limited but who have

remarkable gifts in other areas of their lives

that outshine my own and many other people's.

I suspect most human capacities follow a bell

curve: For each capacity, we would probably find

that very few people have virtually none of it,

and very few people have an extreme amount. Most

of us are somewhere in a well-populated middle

range, with a bit more or less of it.

We dream of creating geniuses at everything -- or

of becoming such geniuses ourselves -- or, most

seductive of all, of designing or training our

children for such perfection. The prospects are

tantalizing. What if we could use " the other 90

percent of our brains " like Einstein, or all be

as compassionate as the Dalai Lama?

I'm not sure it works like that. I think that

extreme capacity requires certain tendencies --

biological, social, spiritual, mental, etc. --

which draw gigantic amounts of our attention and

life energy towards and into the area of genius,

impoverishing other areas of our lives. Genius

often entails some disability, if only being seen

as " the absent-minded professor. "

In a sense, genius and normality -- where

" normal " is having a fair spread of mediocre

functional capacities across the middle of the

bell curve, a few special talents, and no serious

disabilities -- may be more a matter that our

human systems simply don't having enough time and

attention to be special in everything, and so

have to either specialize in a few things (as

lopsided geniuses) or be averagely capable in

most things. Furthermore, there's evidence that

the intensity of genius can be overwhelming --

crippling -- if stimulated too much. It is

interesting to reflect on autistic savant

Tammet's inability to go shopping, because his

hypersensitivity to pattern and number overwhelm

his attention and he can no longer simply attend

to picking out what he wants.

I think the idea of being good at everything, of

being perfect, of being a fully well-rounded

genius and jack-of-all-trades, are part of modern

(especially American) culture's individualistic

bias. America, as a culture, is a collective

savant at, among other things, glorifying the

power and capacity of individuals, and a bit

short on some other important capacities. In

fact, most cultures value certain capacities over

others, considering shortcomings in those areas

to be " disabilities, " while ignoring shortcomings

in other less culturally honored aspects of being

human.

Which, on the one hand, is part of what defines

one culture from another. And, on the other

hand, that genius/disability framing is sad.

Because your inability to do certain things makes

you need me for my abilities in those areas. And

my inability to do certain things makes me need

you for your abilities in those areas. A friend

once told me that being perfect is like being a

bead with no hole; it is hard to add that bead to

the string of human interconnectedness. Our

shortcomings, the empty spaces in our capacities,

CAN play the role of helping us connect to each

other, to become more complete TOGETHER, rather

than separately.

And here, it seems to me, are the key messages in

this savant/disability pattern. The first is

that we are all disabled, all special, all

gifted. We only need fully open, honest,

interested, compassionate eyes to see ourselves

and others in this light (and some will be better

at this than others!).

The second key lesson is that our differences

allow us to cover more ground collectively. As

groups, as societies, as a species, we can be

more whole and capable together than we are

separately. Our diversity becomes a resource for

each other and for our collective capacity. We

become more resilient: As conditions change,

whatever needs to be done can be done by someone,

somewhere. Honoring, encouraging, and using our

diversity creatively can not only help us to

survive, thrive, and flourish but to enjoy life a

whole lot more.

But then, again, maybe it is important that some

of us, and some groups and societies of us, are

better at using diversity well than other

individuals, groups and societies. Maybe that is

part of our collective diversity, which we should

honor.

I don't know. I just suspect that this

particular capacity -- honoring and using

diversity well -- is going to be a powerful force

for survival in this 21st century of

unprecedented challenges.

Coheartedly,

Tom

PS: I have a LOT of other things I should be

doing instead of writing this. But when I

scanned this morning's email and found the

article below, I HAD to write this -- it was a

true compulsion -- even though it somewhat

disabled other important parts of my life. To

the extent this is a gift, it also is a

disability. May it somehow fit into a larger

whole that works for the benefit of all....

_ _ _ _ _ _

from

NHNE News List

_ _ _ __ _

A GENIUS EXPLAINS

By

The Guardian

Saturday, February 12, 2005

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html

Tammet is an autistic savant. He can perform mind-boggling

mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds. But unlike other savants, who

can perform similar feats, Tammet can describe how he does it. He speaks

seven languages and is even devising his own language. Now scientists are

asking whether his exceptional abilities are the key to unlock the secrets

of autism.

............

Tammet is talking. As he talks, he studies my shirt and counts the

stitches. Ever since the age of three, when he suffered an epileptic fit,

Tammet has been obsessed with counting. Now he is 26, and a mathematical

genius who can figure out cube roots quicker than a calculator and recall pi

to 22,514 decimal places. He also happens to be autistic, which is why he

can't drive a car, wire a plug, or tell right from left. He lives with

extraordinary ability and disability.

Tammet is calculating 377 multiplied by 795. Actually, he isn't

" calculating " : there is nothing conscious about what he is doing. He arrives

at the answer instantly. Since his epileptic fit, he has been able to see

numbers as shapes, colours and textures. The number two, for instance, is a

motion, and five is a clap of thunder. " When I multiply numbers together, I

see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape

emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like maths without

having to think. "

Tammet is a " savant " , an individual with an astonishing, extraordinary

mental ability. An estimated 10% of the autistic population -- and an

estimated 1% of the non-autistic population -- have savant abilities, but no

one knows exactly why. A number of scientists now hope that Tammet might

help us to understand better. Professor Allan Snyder, from the Centre for

the Mind at the Australian National University in Canberra, explains why

Tammet is of particular, and international, scientific interest. " Savants

can't usually tell us how they do what they do, " says Snyder. " It just comes

to them. can. He describes what he sees in his head. That's why he's

exciting. He could be the Rosetta Stone. "

There are many theories about savants. Snyder, for instance, believes that

we all possess the savant's extraordinary abilities -- it is just a question

of us learning how to access them. " Savants have usually had some kind of

brain damage. Whether it's an onset of dementia later in life, a blow to the

head or, in the case of , an epileptic fit. And it's that brain damage

which creates the savant. I think that it's possible for a perfectly normal

person to have access to these abilities, so working with could be

very instructive. "

Scans of the brains of autistic savants suggest that the right hemisphere

might be compensating for damage in the left hemisphere. While many savants

struggle with language and comprehension (skills associated primarily with

the left hemisphere), they often have amazing skills in mathematics and

memory (primarily right hemisphere skills). Typically, savants have a

limited vocabulary, but there is nothing limited about Tammet's vocabulary.

Tammet is creating his own language, strongly influenced by the vowel and

image-rich languages of northern Europe. (He already speaks French, German,

Spanish, Lithuanian, Icelandic and Esperanto.) The vocabulary of his

language -- " Mänti " , meaning a type of tree -- reflects the relationships

between different things. The word " ema " , for instance, translates as

" mother " , and " ela " is what a mother creates: " life " . " Päike " is " sun " , and

" päive " is what the sun creates: " day " . Tammet hopes to launch Mänti in

academic circles later this year, his own personal exploration of the power

of words and their inter-relationship.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) at

Cambridge University, is interested in what Mänti might teach us about

savant ability. " I know of other savants who also speak a lot of languages, "

says Baron-Cohen. " But it's rare for them to be able to reflect on how they

do it -- let alone create a language of their own. " The ARC team has started

scanning Tammet's brain to find out if there are modules (for number, for

example, or for colour, or for texture) that are connected in a way that is

different from most of us. " It's too early to tell, but we hope it might

throw some light on why we don't all have savant abilities. "

Last year Tammet broke the European record for recalling pi, the

mathematical constant, to the furthest decimal point. He found it easy, he

says, because he didn't even have to " think " . To him, pi isn't an abstract

set of digits; it's a visual story, a film projected in front of his eyes.

He learnt the number forwards and backwards and, last year, spent five hours

recalling it in front of an adjudicator. He wanted to prove a point. " I

memorised pi to 22,514 decimal places, and I am technically disabled. I just

wanted to show people that disability needn't get in the way. "

Tammet is softly spoken, and shy about making eye contact, which makes him

seem younger than he is. He lives on the Kent coast, but never goes near the

beach -- there are too many pebbles to count. The thought of a mathematical

problem with no solution makes him feel uncomfortable. Trips to the

supermarket are always a chore. " There's too much mental stimulus. I have to

look at every shape and texture. Every price, and every arrangement of fruit

and vegetables. So instead of thinking,'What cheese do I want this week?',

I'm just really uncomfortable. "

Tammet has never been able to work 9 to 5. It would be too difficult to fit

around his daily routine. For instance, he has to drink his cups of tea at

exactly the same time every day. Things have to happen in the same order: he

always brushes his teeth before he has his shower. " I have tried to be more

flexible, but I always end up feeling more uncomfortable. Retaining a sense

of control is really important. I like to do things in my own time, and in

my own style, so an office with targets and bureaucracy just wouldn't work. "

Instead, he has set up a business on his own, at home, writing email courses

in language learning, numeracy and literacy for private clients. It has had

the fringe benefit of keeping human interaction to a minimum. It also gives

him time to work on the verb structures of Mänti.

Few people on the streets have recognised Tammet since his pi record

attempt. But, when a documentary about his life is broadcast on Channel 5

later this year, all that will change. " The highlight of filming was to meet

Kim Peek, the real-life character who inspired the film Rain Man. Before I

watched Rain Man, I was frightened. As a nine-year-old schoolboy, you don't

want people to point at the screen and say, 'That's you.' But I watched it,

and felt a real connection. Getting to meet the real-life Rain Man was

inspirational. "

Peek was shy and introspective, but he sat and held Tammet's hand for hours.

" We shared so much -- our love of key dates from history, for instance. And

our love of books. As a child, I regularly took over a room in the house and

started my own lending library. I would separate out fiction and

non-fiction, and then alphabetise them all. I even introduced a ticketing

system. I love books so much. I've read more books than anyone else I know.

So I was delighted when Kim wanted to meet in a library. " Peek can read two

pages simultaneously, one with each eye. He can also recall, in exact

detail, the 7,600 books he has read. When he is at home in Utah, he spends

afternoons at the Salt Lake City public library, memorising phone books and

address directories. " He is such a lovely man, " says Tammet. " Kim says, 'You

don't have to be handicapped to be different -- everybody's different'. And

he's right. "

Like Peek, Tammet will read anything and everything, but his favourite book

is a good dictionary, or the works of GK Chesterton. " With all those

aphorisms, " he says, " Chesterton was the Groucho Marx of his day. " Tammet is

also a Christian, and likes the fact that Chesterton addressed some complex

religious ideas. " The other thing I like is that, judging by the

descriptions of his home life, I reckon Chesterton was a savant. He couldn't

dress himself, and would always forget where he was going. His poor wife. "

Autistic savants have displayed a wide range of talents, from reciting all

nine volumes of Grove's Dictionary Of Music to measuring exact distances

with the naked eye. The blind American savant Lemke played

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No1, after he heard it for the first time, and

he never had so much as a piano lesson. And the British savant

Wiltshire was able to draw a highly accurate map of the London skyline from

memory after a single helicopter trip over the city. Even so, Tammet could

still turn out to be the more significant.

He was born on January 31, 1979. He smiles as he points out that 31, 19, 79

and 1979 are all prime numbers -- it's a kind of sign. He was actually born

with another surname, which he prefers to keep private, but decided to

change it by deed poll. It didn't fit with the way he saw himself. " I first

saw 'Tammet' online. It means oak tree in Estonian, and I liked that

association. Besides, I've always had a love of Estonian. Such a vowel rich

language. "

As a baby, he banged his head against the wall and cried constantly. Nobody

knew what was wrong. His mother was anxious, and would swing him to sleep in

a blanket. She breastfed him for two years. The only thing the doctors could

say was that perhaps he was understimulated. Then, one afternoon when he was

playing with his brother in the living room, he had an epileptic fit.

" I was given medication -- round blue tablets -- to control my seizures, and

told not to go out in direct sunlight. I had to visit the hospital every

month for regular blood tests. I hated those tests, but I knew they were

necessary. To make up for it, my father would always buy me a cup of squash

to drink while we sat in the waiting room. It was a worrying time because my

Dad's father had epilepsy, and actually died of it, in the end. They were

thinking, 'This is the end of 's life'. "

Tammet's mother was a secretarial assistant, and his father a steelplate

worker. " They both left school without qualifications, but they made us feel

special -- all nine of us. As the oldest of nine, I suppose it's fair to say

I've always felt special. " Even if his younger brothers and sisters could

throw and catch better than him, swim better, kick a ball better, was

always the oldest. " They loved me because I was their big brother and I

could read them stories. "

He remembers being given a Ladybird book called Counting when he was four.

" When I looked at the numbers I 'saw' images. It felt like a place I could

go where I really belonged. That was great. I went to this other country

whenever I could. I would sit on the floor in my bedroom and just count. I

didn't notice that time was passing. It was only when my Mum shouted up for

dinner, or someone knocked at my door, that I would snap out of it. "

One day his brother asked him a sum. " He asked me to multiply something in

my head -- like 'What is 82 x 82 x 82 x 82?' I just looked at the floor and

closed my eyes. My back went very straight and I made my hands into fists.

But after five or 10 seconds, the answer just flowed out of my mouth. He

asked me several others, and I got every one right. My parents didn't seem

surprised. And they never put pressure on me to perform for the neighbours.

They knew I was different, but wanted me to have a normal life as far as

possible. "

Tammet could see the car park of his infant school from his bedroom window,

which made him feel safe. " I loved assembly because we got to sing hymns.

The notes formed a pattern in my head, just like the numbers did. " The other

children didn't know what to make of him, and would tease him. The minute

the bell went for playtime he would rush off. " I went to the playground, but

not to play. The place was surrounded by trees. While the other children

were playing football, I would just stand and count the leaves. "

As Tammet grew older, he developed an obsessive need to collect --

everything from conkers to newspapers. " I remember seeing a ladybird for the

first time, " he says. " I loved it so much, I went round searching every

hedge and every leaf for more. I collected hundreds, and took them to show

the teacher. He was amazed, and asked me to get on with some assignment.

While I was busy he instructed a classmate to take the tub outside and let

the ladybirds go. I was so upset that I cried when I found out. He didn't

understand my world. "

Tammet may have been teased at school, but his teachers were always

protective. " I think my parents must have had a word with them, so I was

pretty much left alone. " He found it hard to socialise with anyone outside

the family, and, with the advent of adolesence, his shyness got worse.

After leaving school with three A-levels (History, French and German, all

grade Bs), he decided he wanted to teach -- only not the predictable,

learn-by-rote type of teaching. For a start, he went to teach in Lithuania,

and he worked as a volunteer. " Because I was there of my own free will, I

was given a lot of leeway. The times of the classes weren't set in stone,

and the structures were all of my own making. It was also the first time I

was introduced as '' rather than 'the guy who can do weird stuff in

his head'. It was such a pleasant relief. " Later, he returned home to live

with his parents, and found work as a maths tutor.

He met the great love of his life, a software engineer called Neil, online.

It began, as these things do, with emailed pictures, but ended up with a

face-to-face meeting. " Because I can't drive, Neil offered to pick me up at

my parents' house, and drive me back to his house in Kent. He was silent all

the way back. I thought, 'Oh dear, this isn't going well'. Just before we

got to his house, he stopped the car. He reached over and pulled out a

bouquet of flowers. I only found out later that he was quiet because he

likes to concentrate when he's driving. "

Neil is shy, like Tammet. They live, happily, on a quiet cul-de-sac. The

only aspect of Tammet's autism that causes them problems is his lack of

empathy. " There's a saying in Judaism, if somebody has a relative who has

hanged themselves, don't ask them where you should hang your coat. I need to

remember that. Like the time I kept quizzing a friend of Neil's who had just

lost her mother. I was asking her all these questions about faith and death.

But that's down to my condition -- no taboos. "

When he isn't working, Tammet likes to hang out with his friends on the

church quiz team. His knowledge of popular culture lets him down, but he's a

shoo-in when it comes to the maths questions. " I do love numbers, " he says.

" It isn't only an intellectual or aloof thing that I do. I really feel that

there is an emotional attachment, a caring for numbers. I think this is a

human thing -- in the same way that a poet humanises a river or a tree

through metaphor, my world gives me a sense of numbers as personal. It

sounds silly, but numbers are my friends. "

------------

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