Endless Thinking.

It began when I got up this morning, and for some unknown reason a line from a Bob Dylan song ran through my head: '... while life goes on all around you.' It's an innocuous little phrase, isn't it? A simple, throwaway line, and yet it began the process of raising questions about life and the nature of reality that went on for about an hour. Every question led to another question and a discussion between one part of my brain and another. Eventually it came to the last question, one to which nobody knows the answer. At that point the slot machine ran out of money, the world went dark, and I moved on to something completely different. (This is quite normal for me. When people accuse me of overthinking I conclude that most of my fellow humans prefer paddling in the littoral surf because they've heard some mention of giant squid.)

 

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So, the next pause for thought concerned the value of consensus. (I'd just passed the village notice board, you see, which showed mug shots of all the members of the parish council. I used to be a committee type myself, but not any more.) I'm aware of the fact that consensus is often useful, but I wanted a good, dramatic example of a situation which led to something pretty dreadful. I thought of the story of Moll Dyer, a story which I assume is well known to most Americans, but I'll offer the bare bones for those who've never heard it.

Moll Dyer was an elderly, unmarried woman living in one of the North America colonies towards the end of the 17th century (in Pennsylvania, I think.) One winter was particularly harsh and compounded by an outbreak of some serious health epidemic, so the townspeople got together and decided that Moll must be a witch causing the calamities and should be done away with. They went to her house, duly buoyed by the opinion gained through consensus, to do the deed. Moll escaped through the back door while the mob were setting her house alight, but she didn't escape death. She froze. And perhaps I might add to this the sight of strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. My only conclusion to this was that consensus must be accompanied by fine judgement and not be allowed to run amok.

 

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And then there was a third subject occasioning a great deal of deep thought, but I can't remember what it was. (This is quite normal for me, too, these days.) I might mention that squirrels have started coming closer to me than they've ever done before. One ran past me on the lane this morning, carrying something -- presumable edible -- in its mouth. And yesterday one came dashing towards me, also carrying something edible. I thought for one blessed moment that it was bringing an offering to swell my food stocks, but no. It changed its mind at the last minute and turned right instead.