It's a done there been that kind of thing with me. I took oodles of chemistry, microbiology, anatomy and physiology back at the university and in the end I threw it all off for English Literature at great but worthy cost.
The truth is that hydrogen and oxygen molecules never struck me as terribly real - nor did they excite me in a way that reverberated the "this is true to life!" explanation I chase.
An explanation has to ring authentic in my mitochondria for me to stand by it.Knowing the molecular weight and covalent bonds of empirical table elements doesn't strike that chord in me - blame my genetic code.
However I ever cheer the tuning and co-playing of my instrument of understanding to all other sane, ethical beings. Our instruments play the world.
Not at all on the same track but somehow relevant to me - dissecting a cadaver left me feeling I'd conquered repugnance but not that I understood one wit more what a human being is. {We pulled on Jane Doe's dead tendons and her arms moved... woohoo?}
I sort of liked Physics - and to be truthful I'd burn the midnight hours by starting a chapter and becoming so intrigued by the ideas that I had to head into the forest so to speak, in order to follow something very very cool. But as a result I didn't do well on exam questions like this:
"A window washer pulls herself upward using the bucket-pulley apparatus show in Figure (the woman is in a bucket, a rope tied to the top of the bucket, and she's pulling on the downward direction of rope that goes up over the pulley) (a) How hard must she pull downward to raise herself slowy at a constant speed? (b) If she increases this force by 10 percent, what will her acceleration be? The mass of the person plus the bucket is 65 kg."These questions did not awaken me but left me frantically wondering what the hell I was doing pursuing "higher" education.
And I'm ashamed to admit my girlfriend and I flirted shamelessly with the TA in lab and that is how I passed physics.
My physic's professor, Owen Chamberlain, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1959. He was a genius and also the worst teacher I have ever had in all my life. I don't mean to say anything here except he was an amazing researcher and truly good person who was forced to teach to make his pay by the Man.
He would madly write equations on those miraculous chalkboards in PS2 at Berkeley- filling one - pulling down the next one filling that one etc. - (all of us madly trying to keep up by scratching facsimiles into our notebooks) - then he'd stop and stand still for a few moments. "No, No" he'd say and then he'd start erasing like crazy blackboard after blackboard.
By the end of the year - only a handful of students showed up in PS2. They must have been telepaths or something.(looks like things have changed a bit - now you can at least not show up and still hear the lecture while you wait for the doings and undoings of your local Nobel Laureate.)
You can see why Literature is a better calling for me. It's much kinder to meanderers and those whose ideas are ever changing.
Still I have a kudo to pass to Science right now and it's in the form of Acetycholine. It's a long story but here's the short form.
From the Psychological standpoint: There are Introverts (people energized by solitude and deep thought) and Extroverts (party down folks who love to socialize and take things at "face" value.)
From the Physiological standpoint: Extroverts are proven to use the Dopamine/Sympathetic nervous paths of the brain. If you're of that ilk have you researched taking Dopamine? That might be a very bad idea so don't mind me!But if what I've found true about Acetycholine is true for Introverts then any of you who know you walk that road should look into it....
I have been feeling utterly stressed lately and so I decided to give my "throttle-down" system - the system of choice for Introverts a boost. The old scientist in me decided to give molecules a chance this weekend so I went down to Natural Grocers and got me some Acetycholine in the form of Alpha GPC plus some Huperzine-A for staying power (stops Acetycholine from getting broken down.)
I have to admit - molecules and the like still strike me as less apparent explanations of the world than Geb and Nut but I'm of a phenomenological persuasion and in the end, as apparent, the Alpha GPC and Huperzine-A are mellowing the harsh no. doubts. I just wanted to pass on that these two little over the counter introverted/acetycholine/parasympathetic stimulating molecular combos do dance up in a very convincing way in my test group comprised of two Introverts! :)
