Wednesday, January 10, 2007

What sorts of snoezelen assuage our fears and exasperations?
I see our society as a full range of such multi-sensory rooms, rigged to keep us from awakeninging to our own rage at the state of the world, joy at the limitlessness of our possibilities as a species, and frustration at the level at which we keep ourselves in order to feed the avarice and petty desires of a few who just don't understand beauty.
I go through each day, reminded from time to time of ideas and ideals that I hold dear, but the needs of immediate bills or some other social contstruct keep me from sending my energy and attention where I ought to put them. I see the 'snoezelen' of new cars and houses, remodels and fancy suits of clothes keep us from our true rage and joy.
Something else is said by this article, but I wonder who else might see it . I think that I can understand the elder gentleman and his urgency to head up to Yellowstone with his friend so they can do what he sees in his mind as very important. Luckily the carecenter has the 'snoezelen' to keep him safe from his dementia, to keep him distracted and within the controling walls, though.
What are our own care centers, distractions and controlling walls? What is my own personal snoezelen?

By the way, the term "snoezelen" (pronounced like "SNOOzelen") is a neologism formed from the Dutch "snuffelen" (to sniff, to snuffle) and "doezelen" (to doze, to snooze). (Via Wikipedia) There's a little more grist for the mill.

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