Human Mind and Sumerian Gods

Sumerians thought that the world is governed by the council of seven gods: Sun, Moon, Sky, Fresh water, Salty water and Storm. The mightiest of them was Storm. This council gathered the first day of every year to decide what the new year will be like, what will be possible and what not.

Some time ago I had a nightmare that woke me up. I was at school, happy and content. Doing the things that I enjoyed doing and simultaneously pushing aside getting prepaired for the maths finals.

When I went to school we had a matriculation exam. It was a real once-in-a-lifetime event that affected your coming seventy, eighty years of life. The exam could not be repeated nor the results made any better.

Every now and then this nightmare repeats itself. I´m totally happy, but every now and then I remember that the exam is approaching. Anyhow I do nothing. Then all of a sudden I realise that it is too late. I do not have the slightest possibility to get prepaired. If there´s no maths, there will be nothing else either. The only thing that I have left is to tell my maths teacher that I have to give up. There will be no matriculation exam nor any graduating for me. - This is when I wake up. I realise that there is no more need for any matriculation exam. I have passed it long since. Life is all right. What a relief!

It is interesting how our mind works. At least to me it seems that there are two alternative interpretations for this dream. One is that I´m badly neglecting to see that there is a real danger approaching. The other one is to realize that... I have difficulties in constructing this second alternative. Sometimes it flashes in my mind, but when I try to catch a hold of it to write it down, it disappears. Maybe, there´s just the first alternative, the danger.

It is now eleven o´clock p.m. I can still see that the sun is setting slowly. The last rays are reflected on sky which will be lit by the moon in awhile. Long, sunny, fresh and beautiful spring days are here. Leaves grow rapidly. Narcissi and tulips are blossoming.

This is the best time to visit Finland. Even the most pessimistic people won´t say yet that the autumn will start approaching soon, meaning that after Midsummer the days won´t get any longer. So far every day is longer than the previous one.

They say that thinking about time equals thinking about death. The days being exceptionally short or unusually long makes you think about time. In winter it is cold and dark at four-five. You need a some self-discipline and social pressure to feel enthusiastic about taking any initiative. In summer you can do things without inner or outer obligations, voluntarily and enjoyably.

I recently read Songs of the Gorilla Nation. My Journey through Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes ( Finnish edition ISBN: 952-5534-20-0). I knew practically nothing about autism and the Asperger syndrome before that. The book is worth reading.

What you might gain in reading the book is that you learn to see normal human behaviour as one version of gorilla behaviour. I do not mean gorilla behaviour in the aggressive and stereo type sense, but in the sense of really caring and minding of each other.

Somebody thas said that caring is waiting rather than effort or tension or mobilisation of knowledge. Caring is a time-related concept. It means waiting. As a gorilla expert Prince-Hughes points out that as well.

People can have different versions of Asperger syndrome which means that they have the need to develop their own coping strategies to get on in life. Prince-Hughes describes hers. She ends up becoming a university professor.

She worked methodologically to reach her goal. One third of her time at the university she talked about her personal skills and abilities. The second third she talked about the work of her colleagues and their shared interests. The rest of the time she talked about current events and her own softened opinions about them. She also made it a rule for herself to remember to ask about other people´s interests.

Due to her special Asperger behaviour it was easy and automatic for her to control that all those topics really received their due time.

If we add to this knowledge what Guy Kawasaki tells about his communication habits, we have a special success formula. Kawasaki lists eight passions that make it possible for him to connect with anybody in the business world. The topics are Audi cars, Breitling watches, tinnitus/Ménièr´s disease, boxers (the dog breed), adopting children, London, digital photography, and Macintosh (text 29.6.2007) .

It´s obvious that you need to develop your own list of eight passions, but that should not be too demanding. You have tested them several times.

Now that we have tested experience of both the topics and the time required, we have at our disposal a recipe showing how normal life can be made even better. If the recipe does not work, we had perhaps better turn to the Sumerian gods.

Or what do you think - are your personal restrictions determined rather by your nightmares and fear for success, plus the fear for the work required, or are they determined by the Sumerian gods deciding what will be possible and what not?

If life is normal, is there any real need to make it even better?