Hall

I sold my Claud Butler the other day, loved that bike, solid, has served me well right up to last year which is about 11 years it lasted. Still going strong. Anyway, it triggered a nice conversation with my brother who constantly astounds me with his eloquence. Glad he's my brother.

Kris
Fanks.
Just sold my Claud Butler last night. I really should not have such an emotional attachment to 'things'.

12:53
Morgen
Well you're speaking to the right person to get that irrational nonsense out of your system.

12:53
Kris
I knew this to be true.

12:54
Morgen
Specialized have a really good offer on new helmets this month - trade your old one in and you can get a £110 helmet for 60, and I need a new helmet. But I remember the day dad bought me my old on in Edinburgh bikes.

12:54
Kris
Even the kids are better at it than me. We have brought them up well.

12:54
Morgen
Learn well, the young padawans do.

12:55
Kris
I took some photos

12:55
Morgen
That's my trick - take photos of everything before it goes, then you don't lose the memories which, really, are what matter - not the atoms

12:56
Kris
I'm sure atoms matter
But I like the way that sounds.

12:56
Morgen
this isn't just being a fanny either, it's being a highly developed ape - we evolved to be like this, because these things connect us to our past selves so we have a narrative and don't just dissolve into non-personhood
Nah, the atoms are just the subveneing substrate
*subvening

12:57
Kris
I wish I'd known that. Could have got a certain person with that one. In fact, I will in the future when she's giving me shit for hoarding shit.

12:58
Morgen
Haha - the only point of big words and pseudo-intellectual rhetoric is to put people in their place.

12:59
Kris
Exactafuckinglutely!

13:02
Morgen
Actually, this photo-taking thing has really helped me. When I pick up some old object it so often triggers a flood of memories and I realised that it is those which really matter to me, not the material thing, but the memories of dad and everything else so I thought - I can keep the bit that really matters, the trigger for the memories and their associated feelings by taking pictures of things.

13:03
Morgen
It's totally rational to be attached to things, we just need to find ways to manage it in a useful way. It's especially important for people who question the nature of themselves and everything - if we are at risk of losing a concrete sense of self these things really help, so for that sort of person, it is to be expected that they feel the need to be attached to the past more acutely than others

13:06
Morgen
But that's just my opinion.
But all opinions are right and valid. [Morgen is joking here, Kris.]

13:06
Kris
Selling that bike is another breaking down of my links to my past life, a constant that no longer is. It may well be a good thing in the long run but its fucking painful right now.

13:07
Morgen
Yeah it is really painful, since some little part of our brain is twitching away in worry that part of yourself is going
On a purely brain level, it is surprisingly similar to a limb being amputated
so the one thing that everyone should learn from it is not to feel daft for feeling it, and to be understanding when others feel it
Found it really hard to get rid of stuff last time I was at mum's
... still feeling it now