SERIOUS GRAVITY (A SANITY PRIMER)

  For the longest time in my dreams - I dreamt that i was wandering through an infinite campus of sorts - the outlay of which receded before me as i meandered about-, but also coming into being and re-configuring itself as I, as we (students / professors / workers / technicians / visitors ) walked about - on our way... Some of the most marvelous facilities I have seen in my life - and in pristine condition - (was this just an eclectic combination of every previous campus i had seen???) - walkways, quads, porticos, buildings, lecture halls, research edifices of the most futuristic glint - made entirely of glass, a multi-layered student center replete with cafeteria, stores, boutiques and elevators expanding like an entire galaxy... and for the longest time I wondered - what are people doing here - or rather - what is the measure of their success - what kind of intellectual output justifies they're being here? While walking through these exquisite spaces - a visitor - a true alien in...

  Judging people's motives is a difficult thing...(there's no art to find the mind's construction in the face, etc. etc.)  but i've learned to go with my "hunches" -  those strong feelings that burst out now and then - to let me know...  But how then - to convince others when someone - or some group - some institution - some entire swath of humanity cannot be trusted??? Cannot be trusted how - they reply? Is it possible to navigate one's way without trust?

  How does one reply to a Nurse telling you - we're here to help... everyone come closer - we're here for you .... Indeed with these smiles and care-giver poses - why would you think otherwise?... and me replying simply : because - oh i don't know - some perhaps people (out there, in here) want to harm us ... and others don't care... have not the slightest concern for our well-being - ... but me of course asking for, nay demanding, the demographics of suffering - as I call it... What percentages are we talking here, Nurse? Can you give me of people who care and want to help - eh? But these musings of a paranoid man - fall on deaf ears as we're shuffled to our locations... And the doctor - that proud, always cheerful authority figure - in his frock coat - situating us in our designated groups and greeting us all warmly with fist bumps and pats on the shoulder - before tossing out the philosophical quandary of the session - Two issues before us today - my good people ...

  The old man was suffering from a condition known as California-on-the-brain... He simply could not get that "state" out of his mind ... true it had been years since he'd lived there - but he could not but offer a constant stream of references to that prior location - no matter where he happened to find himself...