Some Personal Letters
I decided to begin writing some personal letters, as part of my letter writing campaign.
For these letters, I looked up several random names and addresses in the White Pages from all across the country, and sent multiple copies to several people.
The first of these letters, is designed to resemble a spam email letter…
Dear Shaun,
Click here to enlarge your penis.
Sincerely,
Kevin J. Dolan
I sent two copies of that letter.
With the next letter, I decided to go a different direction and give someone a little encouragement. Who knows, maybe they’re going through a tough time, and something like this will really lift their spirits?
Dear Sheri,
I just wanted to let you know that you were doing a great job. Keep up the good work.
I know times are tough, but everything is going to come together for you in the near future.
If you remain positive and stop all negative talk, great things will happen.
Sincerely,
Kevin J. Dolan
That letter was also sent to two different recipients.
The third of this series of personal letters is a few paragraphs regarding my thoughts on consciousness. I really hope somebody reads this and responds in some way.
Dear Harry,
I have recently found myself pondering the complexities of the origin of consciousness.
You see, it seems entirely plausible that the universe could exist and behave as it does without the concept. We could imagine a world where all things operate as they do according to some predetermined physical rules, where systems build on themselves according to principles of existential selection.
This is the way science has traditionally approached the universe, but the idea of consciousness seems to really negate that. Because, at what point am I able to have some active experience? And to what entities is sentience granted? Are plants sentient?
I think that the quantum model of physics has some possible answers. Perhaps it is a consequence of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle that we are given consciousness. Maybe consciousness is merely a manifestation of the exponential branching of possibility.
Within this framework, as elementary particles sniff out all possible paths or destinies, there arises some infitessimality of sentience. And as we gather a large number of these infinitesimals, providing them with various structures to store memories, perform logical operations, and interact in a macroscopically valuable way, we see consciousness begin to arise, seemingly out of nothing.
And on another note, perhaps Einstein was wrong when he suggested that our Universe is the way it is because it is the only way to exist without logical inconsistencies. Perhaps God is not bound by logic, but rather logic is merely some contingency table, reflecting the most commonly encountered phenomenology.
Sincerely,
Kevin J. Dolan
I really liked this one and it took more time to write, so I sent it to 6 people.
The final one of this series was an excert from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra:
Dear Eric,
This had Zarathustra said to his heart when the sun stood at noon-tide.
Then he looked inquiringly aloft,–for he heard above him the sharp call
of a bird. And behold! An eagle swept through the air in wide circles,
and on it hung a serpent, not like a prey, but like a friend: for it
kept itself coiled round the eagle’s neck.
“They are mine animals,” said Zarathustra, and rejoiced in his heart.
“The proudest animal under the sun, and the wisest animal under the
sun,–they have come out to reconnoitre.
They want to know whether Zarathustra still liveth. Verily, do I still
live?
More dangerous have I found it among men than among animals; in
dangerous paths goeth Zarathustra. Let mine animals lead me!
When Zarathustra had said this, he remembered the words of the saint in
the forest. Then he sighed and spake thus to his heart:
“Would that I were wiser! Would that I were wise from the very heart,
like my serpent!
But I am asking the impossible. Therefore do I ask my pride to go always
with my wisdom!
And if my wisdom should some day forsake me:–alas! it loveth to fly
away!–may my pride then fly with my folly!”
Thus began Zarathustra’s down-going.Sincerely,
Kevin J. Dolan
This last one was sent to two people. This concludes this series of laters. I am excited to see if anyone replies. I think they might. I wonder how I would respond to having received a strange letter like these.