Mud Pies, Anyone?

(excerpt from my journal entry dated January 20, 2012, a Friday)

Yesterday, I remembered something I read on Reader’s Digest Online and it’s about how our minds can play tricks on us. I remembered this while I was giving Tatay his bath. Doing so has become common routine for me that I don’t think about it anymore while I’m at it.

Yesterday, however, I suddenly became conscious of what I was doing and then thought I had skipped a step in the process. And so, I had to ask Tatay if indeed I forgot to scrub his underarm, and he said, “No, you did not,” and that’s when I realized my mind has played a trick on me.

I wrote about that notion in that little notebook I keep around on my desk (which I finally got to clear of a lot of clutter—yes!), and quite frankly, since I had written it there already, I didn’t want to write it here anymore. But then a while ago, I was giving Tatay his bath for today and then, I just had to ask him if I had shampooed his hair yesterday (because I applied virgin coconut oil on his hair yesterday), and he said “Yes, you did.” Now, that’s my mind playing tricks on me again.

Now, if you think I’m on the verge of mental degeneration, I’d like to point out that I’m not, or at least I don’t think so. It’s just that my mind is bustling with a lot of thoughts and ideas coming in and boarding with whatever nook and cranny they could find in my brain.

There are experts who say that we humans use only a small percentage of our brains in our everyday tasks. I wonder (and I’m not alone at this), what if we can utilize at least 60–70 percent of our brains?

I was watching Youtube the other night and there was this video about Tutankhamun and Nefertiti  (Egyptian monarchs in the olden days). The maker of the video claims that these monarchs’ heads were actually shaped differently—the back of their heads from the occipital up was elongated in such a way that their heads looked like plump eggplants (I use the term “eggplants” here because I forget the English equivalent of “upo”).

An artist's rendition of Tutankhamun's head

That would be a most strange thing if it were true. Now what would have caused it (if it were true)? Their headdresses?  I’d like to think that using much of your brain would have such a repercussion, although Michio Kaku said (also on Youtube) that there won’t be “gross evolution” for mankind anymore. This means we won’t develop gills to breathe underwater, or be born with webbed feet to swim faster, or sprout wings so as to be able to fly.

I’d like to believe otherwise, though. We’d evolve in such a way that we’d be almost self-sufficient AND efficient with our resources. Just like the wild plants and trees, albeit we’d still humanoid-looking.

Or like the cockroaches, we’d be able to source sustenance on a small patch of dirt. And even make gourmet meals out of them! Just imagine Anthony Bourdain sourcing his ingredients on the former Payatas dumpsite. Now that would be the measure of a great chef. And what a healthy planet Earth this would be! Har-har-har!