Deviously Devised Distraction

Deviously Devised Distraction (Answers to the Puzzle of Feb 10)

Today’s post provides the answers to the several evil and devious puzzles of the Feb 10 blog:

“The quiddity of our hodiernal celerity is the extinction of our clairsentience.”

This title sentence translated to everyday language means:

The essence of today’s speed (rushing through everything we do) eliminates our ability to recognize the deeper meaning of the world around us and understand what real facts are necessary for consideration in our own decision making.

Quiddity—means the real nature of things, essence (probably in every dictionary).
Hodiernal—means today, of this day (maybe in the dictionary, but probably not).
Celerity—means swiftness of action, speed (as you may know, in the dictionary)
Clairsentience—means perception of what is not normally perceptible (probably not in every dictionary)

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes—
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

My understanding of the poem is that it refers to the beauty of the earth with the blackberry bush an example of the failure to appreciate natural beauty. While there are those who understand and appreciate the beauty of earth and the blackberry bush (“And only he who sees takes off his shoes—“), “the rest” don’t see this beauty and are there only to “pluck” and eat the blackberries, never understanding the complexity and beauty of the bush and the earth itself.

While this poem presumes God and heaven, it is not just a singularly applicable spiritual statement. It is also a statement of the failure of many people to perceive what may not be immediately perceptible (clairsentience).

As an example, important decisions are often made much too quickly on the basis of too little information and thought. Some outrageous and obvious examples are the current divorce rate, the current depression caused by gluttonous over-spending by consumers and government, and the Iraq War.

Hence, the final quote:

“The depth of reason within a blink,
Is eclipsed in summary too quick to think.”
(Querton 1065 A.D.)

This quote, again, refers to not thinking things through and drawing conclusions much too quickly, consequently resulting in incorrect decisions.

The quote is attributed to Querton in 1065 A.D. However, this is not really his quote. I arbitrarily selected the name which is actually the origin of our family name Wharton. I really am not aware that anyone named Querton actually said this. Also I only traced the family name Wharton back to approximately 1100 A.D. This was one last bit of deviousness, for which I apologize. I actually wrote this final quote.

I thought you might find the Feb 10 puzzle mildly amusing. It was within the philosophy of the blog itself in that it provided some challenging vocabulary and wisdom from dead friends, albeit a pretend dead friend in this instance.

I could have just said “Look Before You Leap” but, that wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.

Copyright
James Wharton