muss, manic, mathematical mess

i was never good at math. dreaded it. despised it. cursed it. trampled on it. a pure stream of suppressed expletives marshalled against it. i couldn't see anything beyond the single-minded honour for empirical logic and the unshakeable conviction that hard sets of cold data (that lock each angle to a fit and always guarantee the right answer to everything...well...almost) and 101 equations amount to high intelligence and intellectual brilliance. back in school, i was taught that sheer persistence ensures perfect completion to every score. still, much of math still eludes me. it somehow lacks the dark and rich knowledge of anthropology, the empathic science in social work and the redemptive visions found in literary studies. those were my majors in university. i found my calling after years of aimless faltering within a sterile bureaucracy that relies too much on numbers to determine social and future reality.


i do best in subjects which help me tackle, dislodge and understand the mysteries of being human. maybe that was why i could never appreciate the full power of mathematics...simply because it did not do much to quench my thirst to touch the ultimate mysteries of one's existence and our place on planet earth. like most urbanites in many industralised countries, i live in a state where statistics are sometimes used to measure thoughts, perceptions and beliefs of people which in reality, resist any form of quantification. we refrain from cultivating our own search or experience of truth. instead, many of us may have become too used convenient sets of 'calculable' truths we work hard to fashion for ourselves.



still, i find it a miracle that my mediocre command of this subject could have taken me this far. some have gone a little further than me...their ex(curs)ions into this domain proved to be rather inspiring-

shocked?

you shouldn't be.

enough venting...

attached are some illustrious examples; moments when humour and childlike non-sense triumped over precision and logic... to think i was there before...we turn back time and discover that maybe, we were never that bad...much less alone on our futile quest to love math.

this IS the ultimate: