Blog Posts for Pavel Somov, Ph.D.

20 Thoughts an Evening

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:26:28 -0700

1.Like a hand in a glove,Mind's an analogy of reality.Consciousness is the real thing.2.Ego is a memory.Forget it.3.Look at this proletarian body!Look at its billions of constitutionally independent cells!Look at how they all united in one mind!Can you?4.If I had a tail,I'd chase it.Why not?I am doing it now.5.Mind leads Consciousnessby its own nose.Silly!6.A blade of grasswatches another ...

Haiku - a Union of Inner and Outer

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 09:03:15 -0700

A haiku – as I see it – is a pre-industrial camera click, a snap-shot of the outer and inner. Take this one by Master Buson 1716–1783.Picking plum blossomsAnd fretting at my wrinkled hand –Fragrance. Allow me to… analyze, rather than interpret. At a content level, the gist is simple: a man is picking up plum blossoms, notices his wrinkled hand, frets about it, and then ...

"Omon Ra" is "Thin Red Line," Pelevin Style

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:01:29 -0700

There is a way of thinking about all life as a one-way flight (of consciousness). What makes this existential suicide mission heroic or not is whether we choose our own "telemetry." Omon Ra does. Omon Ra, the protagonist of the book, as millions of Russians was born into the "life" simulation of Soviet-style reality that ideologically trained generations for ...

Today I Read Everything (review of "Today I Wrote Nothing" by Daniil Kharms)

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:26:45 -0700

I have read Kharms both in English and Russian quite a few times since my dad (a journalist and "ghost" writer in the USSR) introduced me to Kharms in mid 80s (after my dad had reportedly "snagged" the last copy of the "Incidences" from some street bookseller in Perestroika-era Moscow). Each time I read Kharms I'd browse through any given compilation of ...

Womenomics is Good Humanomics

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:32:14 -0700

"Womenomics," a new book by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, is a paradigm-shifting manifesto of Essence over Form for the 21st century work life. Not just for women, but for men as well. The "womenomics" formula is a psychologically savvy, existentially enlightened "humanomics" formula that is relevant for anyone trying to balance work, love and play. As such, the book ...

Syadvada in Poetry

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:46:18 -0700

Syadvada is a Jain practice of tentativeness when talking about reality. Reality is too multifaceted to be captured in a single point of view. Syadvada offers a total of seven perspectives to counteract dogmatic thought style and categorical expression.syād-asti—in some ways, it is, syād-nāsti—in some ways, it is not, syād-asti-nāsti—in some ways, it is, and it is not, ...

Learn Sneeze Control Techniques

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:23:33 -0700

This is a straight-forward "fyi." You can learn to stop a sneeze. There's a basic know-how to this important social grace. Go to: http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-a-SneezeAs a psychologist, I have had to prevent many a sneeze of my own while in session so as to not disrupt the "process." The method that has worked for me is: "Tickle the roof of your mouth with the tip of your ...

Experience is Beyond Translation

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:39:50 -0700

The sun is love. The lover,a speck circling the sun.These lines are from Rumi, in translation by Coleman Barks.Whose lines are these lines? Rumi's or Barks'?When reading Rumi in translation by Barks, historically, I am reading Barks' translation of Rumi's translation of Rumi's thoughts.Whose thoughts are these thoughts that Rumi tried to translate into words that Barks later translated into ...

Still Gaga About Gagarin

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:34:07 -0700

Human history tells the story not of facts but of subjectivity. Each era, each civilization, each society and even each and every one of our own minds narrates its own story of significance. But what would an extraterrestrial witness of infinite patience consider to be basic cosmological highlights of this third rock from the Sun. Perhaps, the following...4 billion years ago: Pre-cellular ...

The Word "Rose" Has no Smell, but a Rose Does

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:06:21 -0700

When young, the mind keeps on asking "What is this?"Is this question a moment of learning or... the beginning of blindness?When the mind asks "What is this?" it pulls together several incoming streams of sensory feedback into a perceived - but still nameless - whole. And as soon as the question is answered, the Nameless is named. And the incoming streams of sensory feedback ...