Wednesday, June 3, 2009

DISCONNECT/RECONNECT

Friends and readers, I've been through a disconnect with this blog due to a disconnect in my eye, a detached retina, which occurred at the end of April. I had surgery on April 28Th and am still under the surgeon's care. It's been an amazing experience, though threatening to vision. Detached retinas can lead to blindness. The surgery places a bubble of nitrous oxide in the eye to assist the retina which covers the back of the eye ball. After five weeks I still have the bubble in my eye which is gradually being replaced with natural fluid by the eye. In four or five weeks I hope to have my full vision returned with disappearance of the gas bubble. It will be a miracle for which I am deeply thankful.
During the initial 17 days I was required to keep my head facing the floor 24/7. With my good eye I was able tor read a broad spectrum of books and articles, about the most abusive violence today to the most sublime insights about life and existence. This is a forced retreat, again which I have come to appreciate. Vision is a wonder. The April issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN presents an article about the evolution of color vision in primates which our eyes reflect. The retina is a layer of nerve cells at the rear of the eye, which transmits visual information to the brain via the optic nerve. Color vision depends on cones, tapered sensory cells containing light-activated pigments. Along with rods, which together are called photoreceptor's, the cones tailor the color vision. Most mammals have two pigments to transfer color information, humans and some primates have three. These determine the color that the brain "sees."
As I reflect upon my reading about the human condition from the sublime to the tragic and ridiculous, I think about the information that the brain receives as the culture and/or self selection transmits information. I think of Jesus' comments about the 'blind leading the blind." I think too about his appeals about his being the "light of the world."

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