"3 paper towels" by Tom Heffernan

In going through old letters, I came across three dipenser-type paper towels, covered in Tom's writing: each with a heavy column in blue ball point pen rich with underlinings, arrows, exclamation marks and heavy strokes. Here with minimal editing (thanks Jeannie) is what he wrote:

3 paper towels

by Tom Heffernan

I

Stunted attention,

Poorly developed senses of perception,

Inability to navigate through Earth life

Without technical aids

Equal distancing.

We don’t develop love.

Don’t NEED to pay attention.

Don’t pay attention to our animal selves.

So, we don’t have a REAL SENSE

Of self identity,

And we SHIFT TO INTELLECT

Too young, too exclusively.

II

FIRST Concept: I AM FREE!

(Corresponding thought:

The world is HUGE and ALIEN,

And I am small).

Insignificance, Powerlessness.

We build a faulty

Structure of Thought

On the faulty Foundation.

Further trouble:

Our inability to pay attention

To thinking,

Our lack of proprioception

Lead to a confusion.

Dangerous confusion

Of mixed up thoughts and feelings.

III

Busy, thinking mind

Rarely is turned off

(Normal situation).

It is sunk into

Our diffuse awareness.

Our sense of attention called up

Only when needed.

Busy mind needs

Constant stimulation, change.

without ATTENTION and LOVE,

HAVOC.

IV

Uncaring, unaware

Destruction of life.

Without ATTENTION

And LOVE, we become

Exceedingly self-centered.

Instead of a healthy attitude

Of self in the middle of life

(in the thick of it),

Self becomes the center of life

Or outside of life.

Extensions out from the center become

pathological:

Exploitive entertainment (recreation),

Charitable sacrifice,

Noblesse oblige,

Fixing what’s wrong out there.

NOT RELATIONAL