The Leviathan Grook.
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  I'm writing this aboard my new laptop, which i have christened the "Leviathan II" as the second of the Leviathan series, the first of which happens to be an Olivetti Lettera32. The Leviathan II is a Hewlett-Packard Omnibook 3000. Both of these are thought processors, the Leviathan because you were forced to think about what you had to say before putting fingers to keyboard, and the Leviathan II for its amazing ability to provide information from the net and edit documents. Oh, and also play music, organise and store information, do graphics manipulations, and totally be a great boon to an absent minded sort. The biblical Leviathan was a sea faring creature of gigantic proportions. I use Leviathan to metaphorically represent the machines that I use to navigate the seas of philosophy and of life and religion. They are both blue-greyish, which is a nice colour if you're sensitive to such things. I usually think of the Leviathan ( the Lettera ) as an old fashioned sea-going vessel while the Leviathan II ( the Omnibook ) is a space ship, capable of exploring the final frontiers. Teresa Gallagher owner of the Born to Explore Website has just redesigned her site, it now has better navigation ( kudos to her for a great job ) and organisation. Its content has also improved if that is possible, but oh it is ~! One great new page I found when grooking at her site today is this: Full Text: The Coincidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Creativity, by Bonnie Cramond, Ph.D., The University of Georgia, March 1995 This paper says everything I've been exploring in much greater ( much, much ) detail. Some comments overheard : "Wow.." "Great..." "Yeehah..." "Giddiyap ~!" The last two comments were made to Intuet. More stuff to grook. I think I've found a very rich vein in this url. I've got a new Idea ~! Suppose that depression affects different personality types differently. Thinking dominated types become philosophers, and feeling dominated types become artists. Hmm.... I got that idea while reading The Jean-Paul Sartre Cookbook. I've just read Robert Heinlein's " Stranger in a Strange Land " It is a Hugo-prize winner, and is science fiction of the highest calibre. The meaning of the word grok is now more fully understood by me, and I've grokked the synchronistic relationship between Heinlein's "grok" and my "grook". Heinlein's grok refers to a complete, full understanding of how things are, in every respect, holistically. My grook means the process ( discussing, imagining, playing...) through which grokking is achieved. Its like grok is the more powerful version of grook, in the sense that grooking is merely a process or processes, while grokking is the final result or goal. >>Finally, a dumb question: What does 'Grok' mean? >>Andre, > >"Grok" is contemporary (American?) slang for "understand" or "comprehend". >It also implies that the process of "getting it" is especially difficult or >arduous. >>I'm not sure where it came from. >Dictonary doesn't list an entry...not webster online anyway...or the printed one here in the office. "Grok" comes from Robert Heinlien's (sp?) writings...and is used in more than a few of his books. I can't remember which ones...its been a longtime. If memory serves (which it doesn't, all too often) it refers to understanding something on a more fundamental level than just using the word "understand" or "comprehend". You don't just know it.... you KNOW it. grok?" "Grok" is a term invented by Robert A. Heinlein in his book STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. Yes, it does mean "comprehend" or "understand" and can also be used as a synonym for "absorb" or "become one with". In the book, the word is a Martian word used by a human who was raised on Mars by Martians. He is discovered there by humans, brought to earth, where he "groks" civilization and "shares water" with people. It is an excellent book, a classic science fiction novel, and very much a book of the 60's - lots of free love and philosophy and that sort of thing. I highly recommend it.Dave For example, Valentine Michael Smith, the Man from Mars ( the Stranger from the title ), does not understand laughter or love at first. As he says, he does not "grok" the fullness of it. Therefore, he will try to to grok it. Waiting is, he proclaims. Waiting for fullness is. He arrives at grokking the experiences and concepts through meditation, contemplation, instruction (teaching) and all the processes that grook represents. Grokking is knowing and feeling the fullness, the rightness, the goodness, the holiness, the truth of whatever one is thinking about. Grooking therefore, is getting to grok. The exploratory process. One may not grok his own destiny, but one may come to grok it by grooking about it. I grok this, I really do. I grok, therefore I am. To grok, or not to grok. Grokking is to see through to the essence of things, to grook is to find things to grok. More on this later. It is a another very strange coincidence that Piet Hein, a Danish poet, chose the very same word to name his humourous poetry. Here's a sample of what he calls grooks... " A grook, or "gruk" which is the original Danish name, is a short, often humorous poem, which expresses some sort of wisdom. A sample : Philosophical grook. A bit beyond perception's reach I sometimes believe I see that Life is two locked boxes, each containing the other's key. " I swear I never read Robert Heinlein or even heard of Piet Hein before inventing the word grook. Gnarly Carl Jung says its a synchronicity. There are many such synchronicities in my life. I've been made a proud member of the Explorer Webstar ~! Thanks to the members of the Webstar for voting me in. Visit the member sites below to grook some more about Attention Deficit Disorder ~! Member Sites by Teresa Gallagher. One word: grook. by Catherine Woodgold. She's got great pages about memory as it applies to ADDers. by Jan Upton. These folks are involved in shifting a new paradigm in education. The author challenges the conventional wisdom about ADD. by Ann. operated by Lynne the Listkeeper. The list is a place where people do their grooking about ADD-related stuff. If you've ADD, or suspect you have, or maybe the two terms apply to someone you know, git on this list. It will do you a world of good. by Catherine Jamieson. Attention Deficit Disorder is a gift. Read her links. by Vinc Wong. Me, moi, yours truly. I've realised something. It doesn't really matter what I've got. I mean, it doesn't really matter what label I'm trying to tie onto myself. I'm a human being. Humans defy labels. What does matter is that I've got these traits in these pages, and how I'll use them and get around them and improve on them. Thank you for bearing with me. I'll start concentrating on the traits themselves from now on, and stop trying on the labels. About the labels, I mean, why do I need to know ? Blame it on my INTP temperament. But there I go again, trying to label myself. Make it stop ~! I've updated the site, it now has more readable text, a better navigation system, an extra page called the Grook List which is a collection of links, and better ( but not a lot ) rewritten content in all pages. |
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The Razor's Edge A Possible ADDer Speaks ~!
My interests are diverse, its hard to find something that doesn't interest me. I'm beginning to find this a problem, since there's only twenty-four hours a day, and i spend most of that daydreaming ( or sleep-dreaming ).
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Member of the Explorer Webstar ~!  . Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate All rights reserved. Copyright � 1998 by Vinc Wong Chee Wai. |  |