the gap of time and proximity

it is really funny to think about the differences between simultaneity and cooperation/collaboration. lot of times, it is the misuse of the words that gets us into the hot water. one of my friends so poignantly pointed out that hot water is just good for tea and no one seems to be willing to take a dunk in it, which made me think of the unfortunate case of the dormouse in mad hatter's tea party. haha. tenniel was a genius.

anyways.
there are many of us in this world, the conscious living beings, considering each self as an individual. individual meaning it can no longer be divided. the smallest part of the whole. so we all co-occupy the space and time, being born, getting old, then dying. and one life intersects countless others, whether they may or may not be conscious of it. but most of the time, like walking in the sea of crowd, mingling among strangers, one happen to ride the same flow of time at the same instance, as an individual. hence, living simultaneously. even when one is taking part of a larger entity, ie. going to school, sitting in a bus with others, waiting at the doctor's office and such, the consciousness usually does not make much significant connection. like waving at the bus driving by, without really knowing if anyone's even riding in it. or trying to go through the grocery aisle without getting run over by little children. they run right past you, with no care about who you are, what you want for dinner, whether you are going to look down and try to find a non-name brand items for substitution, etc. co-habiting and passing by.

and then there are the occasional opportunity for cooperation/collaboration. commonly known as 'doing things together.' working together, unlike co-habitation or simultaneity, requires active participation from the conscious of the parties involved. continuously giving and taking, the repeated cycle synthesizes new ideas, product, even just an acceptance of a new point of view for an old dog. in a sense, the difference would be that the parties involved are changed due to the experiences of the cooperation. and yes, i believe there usually is an enormous satisfaction- the true joy of communicating and exploring another person's realm, taking a dip at an alternative reality. as a relativist, i find the this kind of communication rewarding and enjoyable. though it's never free- kind of a tandem ride, if you will, both parties must be present.

and there comes another interesting thing about identity of words; some words have double meanings- as a noun and a verb. and often, in co-habitation, or simultaneous individual action in close proximity, the words simply stop living and becomes simple nouns. like 'mind,' which has over 47 entries, become a simple word, meaning not much more than some bizarre abstract concept.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mind?qsrc=2888

and how many hours, days and years have i spend mistaking one to another, simply blocking out a chance to explain and be explained, or take proximity as a pre-requisite for collaboration?

recently there has been many different forms of communication and exchanges in my life, esp. in banff as well as somewhere as far as the other side of the small pond called atlantic ocean. and sometimes, though the identities are far enough to occupy the flow of the time simultaneously, we are subjected to the tyranny of the time zone differences. that is a topic for another piece i think- how bizarre is it that i am thinking in cooperation with another being, while one could be in a different flow of the day from the other? here, proximity really brings out the difference that the distance could make. in contrast, there are people who are so close to me in proximity that i could touch and whisper to, though there is only simultaneity.

thinking about these differences, i think i just get more and more lost about the subtle nuances of one life to another; however clear i think it may be, it always blurs at the edges, like blending of millions of shades of blues and greys of the mountains here in winder rockies. only when you take the time to look at them, you start to see them. and once you start to see them, you see more and more shades. in a sense, may be whenever i look at closely at lives who are cooperating, the term individual no longer applies. because we blend, there is no possibility of separating into smaller parts- indivisible.
it is a shame truly that i cannot cooperate with all conscious minds around me. i understand that it's impossible. which makes me rather wistful sometimes about the proximity of the people who are cooperating with my flow of life and time.

may be im just getting old and sentimental,
getting attached to those very thin threads between people, that you have to continuously spin out with utmost care, thin as spiderwebbing, however, still clearly connecting through one identity to another.
meanwhile, im gonna try to stay out of the hot water. tea pot or not.