I’m about to take a couple of weeks off. I’ll be acquiring impressions to later process and perhaps understand. Fun.

But before I go I want to make a comment about symbols. In general I don’t like or trust them. I think they lead too readily to unwise simplification. But I can’t help noticing when they hit me over the head.

I like to decorate these posts with a thumbnail picture that relates to the topic. I try to avoid using any copyrighted material, and eventually I hope to feature original work by talented relatives.

One of the best images I’ve acquired is the multi-color brain at the head of this article. It’s a bird’s-eye view and it came oriented with the narrower part of the head at the top. That’s how I used it for my Brain Train and Addenda posts (August 25 and September 27). But I flipped it vertically for the poetry I posted last week. I liked the fact that, flipped, the design resembles a Valentine heart. A face.

An hour later it struck me. When the brain is facing up/outward, it’s ready to deal with other people, thinking and processing. But when it looks like a heart it’s facing inside, and then it’s attempting to express feelings.

Aw …