There was a time when I would simply pull out my trusty Webster’s Tome. I would efficiently thumb to the desired entry, proudly making full use of the alphabetical skills acquired through years of primary education. Voila! Having quickly located the desired term, I would faithfully and obediently parrot the appropriate definitions. But times have changed, and I have kept up with them. I now depend, as I’m sure is true for most of us, on Google and Wikipedia for my primary didactic guidance.
So I Googled “Refractory”.
Webster could never have anticipated the boundless diversity of definition declared relative by Google’s algorithms! You may enjoy looking for yourself, but let me assure you that for our purposes, refractory is not “the recovery phase after orgasm during which it is physiologically impossible for an individual to have additional orgasms” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractory_period(sex)
And did you know that in the religion of the Vedic period in India, there are certain words that, when used as a Mantra, affect a spiritual transformation in the individual repeating them? Om (or Aum) is perhaps the most well known. The meaning of the words (and the self) becomes lost in the rhythm of repetition. The void that this loss creates invites change and hopefully an accompanying enlightenment.
How in the world did I get from “Refractory” to refractory Karmas? The Six Degrees of Separation of People states that each person on Earth is only 6 acquaintances from every other person. I’d like to be the first to declare a similar relationship for information, my just conceived and soon to be famous Six Clicks of Separation of Information theory, each topic searched for is only 6 clicks away from all other topics
I’m tempted yet again to abandon this new hyperlink knowledge fest and dust off my trusted old tome. But I never do. I love this new world of fast and easy information. I love having the world’s largest library sitting on my desk. Maybe I won’t become famous for my theory, but I’ll bet one day I’ll learn to use technology as efficiently as that old dictionary.
In the mean time, you’ll have to read more of the blog to know what our discussion is all about. Since I already know, I’m just going to go practice my mantra. “Aum refractory, Aum refractory, Aum refractory…”
Greg Gorby, Editor
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