Asakiyume mita

I heard a quote last week from Lynn Margulis, of Gaia Theory fame: "Life is matter that chooses." My immediate reaction was that I liked it ... but then I started having doubts. It's appealing, but what does "choose" mean? If a single-celled organism moves toward light or engulfs a food particle or away from a predator, is that a choice? In what sense is it a choice? How is it different from a shadow's movement across the ground in response to the movement of the sun earth around the sun? For that matter, how is it different from the earth's own movement, or the sun's? Or if those things are too physical, then how is the single-celled organism's action more choice-y than a chemical reaction like rust forming on metal?

Maybe I'm too pedestrian a thinker in this case, but to me choice involves weighing alternatives, and while some things that are alive do weigh alternatives, I think it's a stretch to say all living things do, so I don't think this formulation really can be used to define life.

Completely unrelatedly, it hit me at 5:45 this morning that there's a good reason that various flavors of Christianity (maybe all of them?) tell people to imitate Jesus and not God, and it has entirely to do with the fact that on the face of things Jesus was just a person walking around doing person things--despite the central tenet of the faith that emphatically says we have to erase the "just" from the previous clause. You could say imitate the Dalai Lama or Nelson Mandela or Greta Thunberg or anyone else who's admired, and the effect is the same--you're picking a fellow human who's setting a good example for you in some way. But if you decide to imitate God/a divinity, then you and those around you are in for a world of trouble. (I mean, possibly you'll/they'll be in for that anyway, depending on the human you decide to choose as your model, but it's a guarantee if you take it into your head to imitate a deity.)

Last, a couple of pictures. I probably (most assuredly) won't do all of Inktober, but here's Day 1: "ring"



And here is some pointful stencil graffiti from Keene, NH, where we were this past weekend because Wakanomori was running a marathon

Hmmm, I fell behind again.

Yesterday (October 11) was "run"



And today's prompt is "shattered." I was thinking about the mirror in The Snow Queen, which, when it broke, caused such problems for human eyes and hearts

I was away over the weekend with very limited Internet, so I'm giving you my weekend's Inktober drawings now--along with critique, because why not?

The theme for October 7 was "shy," and I liked my concept for it, but was disappointed by my execution. I think I either should have worked on it longer (and paid more attention to, like, anatomy) or else gone for something more cartoonish--simpler lines, etc.

The theme for October 8 was "crooked," and I decided on lightning, but my first attempt used Too Many Different Sorts of Crosshatching, plus the lightning itself had a too-solid, not-glowing-enough look to it, like it was made out of plywood and painted white. So I tried again, this time aiming for a more pure-energy lightning... but the result looks... hmm. Not dazzling enough. If it were pencil-tober, I'd do it in pencil; I think I could get what I want with pencil. Maybe.

But you know? I'm having fun in spite of these dissatisfactions. Today's theme is "shriek"--maybe I'll post something before the day goes by.

Shy


Crooked

Heian court ladies had famously long hair--rivers of ink

Today's prompt is "Poison." I was going to draw, maybe, a destroying angel mushroom or some water hemlock, or maybe some water hemlock growing by a destroying angel mushroom, with a coral snake sliding by.... but in the end I decided to go with ...



What can I say; I really loved Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet.