Identify 5
Here’s hoping you’re not sick of the lyrics+headspace format just yet. Oh Mandy by The Spinto Band:
I got a gnome in the backyard
I put him right on the X mark
he?s supposed to show me where the money is
hey wont you show me where the money is
I got it all on the back of my hand
I want your answer so I won’t forget
then show me right where your heart is
oh right now tell me where your heart is
…
Oh Mandy, Oh Mandy
So Dreamy, So Killing
…
Sure I had trouble from the onset
I tried to chase things I couldn’t get
Show me a rerun on the W
Show me a rerun on the WB
So What’s it like to be in it
and move away to the Midwest
I gotta message for your auntie
…
Oh Mandy, Oh Mandy
Can read me, and has me
Oh Mandy, Oh Mandy’?s
Completely out of reach
…
And now I know I?m at the end of my wits
don’t gotta tell me where this is going
cus I know nothing ever falls apart
yeah I know nothing ever falls apart
remind me once more where this is going
before I fling it out into the ocean
it?s kind of level but its wavy
Its looking more blue than it is green
it?s looking quiet as I jump in
so I can finally hear you scream
You got a gnome in the backyard
you put him right on the X mark
you?re eating brains out the back of my head
oh yeah, that’s where the money is
***
I’d like to a break from the self to consider the way we view the identity of another, the 3rd person. In order of availability this is what we can see, and upon which all impressions are based. First the external identity; the manifestation of their identity outside of their own mind. Granted it is all but impossible for one person to witness or understand all manifestations of the external identity of another. Some external manifestations we won’t be around to witness, and others will pass so far above or below our radar we don’t even know they’re there, body language for example.
We see even less of their environment. If we are limited in our ability to observe someone else’s external identity, then we are next to blind when it comes to observing the specific effects an environment has on them. If an environment can effect an individual in such a subtle way that even they’re not aware of the change, how likely is an outside observer to notice? For example, there are no good ways of judging how strong an effect a commercial had on someone you know, or how much their sense of aesthetics has been shaped by the kinds of trees that grow in their watershed.
Who’s to say? And of their internal, we see nothing. All is balanced though; as I said before, we spend an inordinate amount of time in our own headspace and spare little for the shared.