Reperformance

On a plane to San Francisco I sat next to a blond boy who was about four years old. As our plane began its descent, the boy started nodding his head back and forth really fast. He would do it for a few moments, and then remark to himself, "That feels funny!" This went on for about five minutes. He would shake his head, stop, take note of the sensations the shaking would cause, and, having proven that it still felt funny, repeat, "That feels funny!" It became evident that the remarking that this action made him feel funny was as important as the actual shaking of the head. If I was to reduce this scene to a few words it would be: action - pause - study reaction - remark upon reaction - continue action. What was it I was witnessing?

In the dawn of consciousness, man looked about him self and remarked, "The world is pretty fucking awesome." He took note of everything that surrounded him, gave it all names, made representations of it, wrote theories on why things were the way they were, imagined what it would be like if they weren't that way, or if things had changed, or what was outside the realm of what he could see around himself. Having done this, then he wondered, "Now what?" Then man discovered properties of plants and named it, in English, drugs. Upon ingestion, man remarked, "That feels funny!"

On the plane, I had witnessed a reperformance of the discovery of feelings outside the everyday, sober consciousness. It's simple! he realized. Just shake your head from side to side and it makes you feel funny.