The brain has a mind of its own
“Cognitive decline” has been newsworthy in recent weeks, not at all surprising when the president brags he has “aced” his cognitive test (equal to acing your temperature by seeing 98.6 on the thermometer) and believes that when last week I bought coffee for $12 and this week I pay $16 because of tariffs he put on imported coffee, that “the economy” improves as the people get poorer.
Or maybe he doesn’t believe that but thinks we are dumb enough to believe anything he says.
All that re-ignites the elderly awareness of decline: each of us has our own way of keeping track. From age 6 until 65 I was in some school or another, so I am hardwired to passing tests, anxious even about a blood test. I go to YouTube where tests abound, some of which advertise themselves in Trumpian excesses – “Only those with a 200 IQ will pass this test” – and some are just plain impossible for those unfamiliar with the names of governmental offices in both Iceland and Latvia. I spent time with these tests, and I learned.
I am now more familiar with the periodic table, the solar system, deserts, rivers and lakes, human bones, the Icelandic government, and collective nouns. Pods, herds, schools, bevies, crowds, collections, droves, murders, a group of owls is a parliament, a group of butterflies is a kaleidoscope. I like the last the best because it is colorful and because a small one joined me on the back porch last Saturday.
A colorful, smart, happy kaleidoscope of friends who endured the heat. We fluttered our wings at a lot of subjects, landed on the question of whether a person devoted to kindness and honesty can maintain that devotion while wishing ill to another person. We all wish the flabby fascist would just disappear —does wishing that make us into lesser beings? Can I be both caring and wish for his demise?
This took a lot of wing quivering until we came upon the concept of mind control and large numbers of people. My brilliant friend explained Silva Mind Control illustrated by the common experience of moments we have thought of another person and that person calls at that very moment.
The mind can control, heal, find answers, create solutions, change behavior, communicate, and topple rulers. When many people think the same thing at the same time, changes happen. Prayer circles work. Chanting works. Protests work.
It is the brain’s highest, most creative power when large numbers of protesters have a single idea. Protests by “we the people” have never been wrong, have never created fascistic governments, never protested for lower wages, longer work hours, against voting rights, against abortion, for cruel policy, for starting wars, for starving children. It’s our responsibility to join in, to add our minds to doing the right thing.
Having come to that conclusion, the small kaleidoscope lifted butterfly wings and left the back porch to the evening shadows.
Recently, I heard the first five-syllable word uttered by the self-styled most brilliant president of all time, the one who aces a cognitive test and was able to wrap his mouth around “obliterated.” Impressive!
Marie Howard