Wednesday, February 09, 2005

The Absolute Secret Answer to Everything

Hah! Made you look! Heeheeheeheeheehee...........




Tonight's mood--puckish...........I admit to being a shamefully lazy scholar. Sometimes get little details--names, dates, facts--a bit wrong. So feel free to correct any factual inaccuracies you may find here--you great swot!
Seems to me the "eureka" spot in the brain is awfully close to the "B-b-b-b-b-b!!" bits.
I come by this via direct observation of a small group--psychiatric patients in an unnamed facility, circa 1989--2005, and a story I've long loved. That's where the poor scholarship is most likely to pop up.
A gent I knew from cooperative housing lost his marbles one night from a combination of LSD and math. He was tripping his face off, trying to find the "secret equasion that explains everything". Poor chap seemed on the verge of finding it, when it all went pear shaped. Cost him a bit of time in a place I later ended up in myself--as staff.
Over the course of my days there, I would--from time to time--encounter an individual who reminded me of my old friend--usually male, highly intelligent, left brain dominant types good at math--all mad as fish, all convinced they were verging on discovering a world changing secret.
Ok, so ready for the story? Here goes-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge was loaded on laudenum one night, when he had an epiphany. Suddenly, he understood EVERYTHING. It all came together, it all added up, the secret to the universe was his. He struggled to his writing desk, dipped a pen, scribbled his insight, and fell unconscious on the floor. When he came to the next day, he recalled his experience, and rushed to read what he'd written. "There seems to be a strange odour in the room".

5 comments:

M said...

It must be an urban myth, because I remember a very similar story, only it was a writer who kept having wonderful ideas in his sleep, and when he woke up he couldn't remember them. So one night he got pen and paper right next to him, and when he had another wonderful dream he wrote it down before he could forget it -- and went back to sleep. In the morning when he read it ,it was also something totally worthless, like "the man wore a hat", or your "there's a strange odour".

Nice to see you back!

Whitney said...

If you ever read Disco Bloodbath (renamed Party Monster after the documentary and major motion film came out) by James St James, he falls in a K hole (what one does when one takes Ketamine: and animal tranquilizer) and discovers all these things, and then tries to write them down, and they aren't inspiring at all, just kinda lame. You should so read that book, it's very well written, funny, and morbid. You'd love it Trey.
Peace,
Whitney

delta said...

Yay! You're back :) I'm not so concerned as to the absolute accuracy of the story, like you i tend to latch on to the meaning rather than the facts, so i think it's excellent- it has Truth, it's both funny and sad, and best of all, it kept me entertained whilst waiting for a delayed flight :) I've a sinking feeling i'm going to miss my connection...

Trey said...

Glad to be back! I'd been preparing for my final examination in massage therapy--after much anxiety and feeling unready, I managed to pull off 94%--I would have been satisfied with simply passing, but wOOt!
I'm happy to see you three have met. Whitney is a charming young woman I've known since she was but a lass--sniff! I'm so proud of her!
Blog on, oh my exellent friends!

Whitney said...

I still am "but a lass" silly!
I'm oh so ancient at the age of 18 (almost 19)

Blog Widget by LinkWithin