On a plane yesterday a few thousand meters above the ground, I lost focus on my book and began to feel the constant steady vibration of the airplane. It was a large plane, 767, more than 40 rows, 7 people per row in the back. I felt the vibration in my foot and the rest of my body intensely. There were several different modes of vibration and I felt all of them. The vibration through my thin sneakers felt like the vibration of a sailboat. The vibration of a sailboat is full of meaning and information to my mind. Acceleration, rotation, movement, and the music of vibration come through my body and lead directly to action, thought, fear, happiness. And seamlessly the actions change the feel and go directly back to action. So the vibration of the plane felt like it should so lead to action, but there was no corresponding information, no play of light off the waves, shifts in the wind, change in sail shape, change in velocity relative to other boats, or sinking or rising in the water–no world of sailing. So the vibration of the plane was a neutered sensation, devoid of the meaning I felt it should have. To the vibrations I ascribed changes in acceleration, draft, a turn, changes in wind. But my mind randomly conjectured these possibilities without verification. And, of course I was utterly powerless to change or interact in any way with the vibrations. It was alien to me.
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October 6th, 2019, over Long Island.
Written in Cambridge, Ma.