My unit came with a high pre-set. Output levels overall have always too hot, missing some normalization filters
Conscious amplitude modulation finally began six months ago after general system shut-down, once a semi-annual phenomenon, becoming a bi-weekly occurrence. The first plan was to carry less projects while still maintaining the same level of per project enthusiasm.
The discernable difference was insufficient. Frequency modulation is needed as well, starting now with a similarly obvious implementation plan: Turn off the force one out of every seven days, and just think about God. For someone attracted at all to Panpsychism as I am, that leaves a pretty wide field for thinking, as long as the output levels stay down close to zip.
It will be difficult and I know I will feel that I am ‘wasting the precious hours of my life,’ but in fact I think it is the way to make the most of them. Duh — don’t work so hard and take a day off — what’s the big problem?
The problem, as always, is identity and addiction. My identity is not strongly rooted in a sports team or an occupation or even a set of cultural values, it is rooted in a mental state, my subjective sense of personal energy and enthusiasm flowing naturally out of me all the time. That is how I see myself at my best and I believe that energy and enthusiasm are the main features of how others see me.
That is why I have for decades viewed every day as the same day, a day to get stuff done. It wasn’t a competitive impulse, trying to gain an edge over lesser folk who needed rest. It was how I like to be, a habit I didn’t want to break. Now that I’m being more or less forced to, I’ll at least try to take charge of the transition.
By writing about amplitude and frequency reduction, I’m sidestepping the frame of personal loss, both efficacy and identity. Loss is certainly the dominant theme in the culture of aging, but no one has to adopt it. I’m not certain I’ll be looking at addition by subtraction, but I don’t rule it out.
I have frequently stated, in my 70s, a strong belief that my best work is still ahead of me. Truth and motivational input can co-exist.
My guess I will miss the higher-energy manifestations of myself more than the people around me do. They’ve probably been ready for some AM/FM down-mod for, like, ever. Especially my wife, whose tympanic membranes have been vibrating with sound waves issuing from me on everything from Holography to the Wrath of the Khans for almost fifty years.
That could be where the personal gets political — the effect of being too energetic and too enthusiastic has on others. Some amplitude modulation across-the-board will help us all to negotiate our transition to new circumstances worldwide. It will help if we are collectively less forceful and take more time-outs.
None of us can be the way we were, ever, and especially not now. Syncing up with the obligatory and acting like I chose it is why I write about being semi-old using funny words, so they feel like they’re mine.