temple of appearance

acrylic on painted book

mushroom compote

Lohbado cycled to the Lachine Canal. He decided to avoid the freeway service road, since it can be quite busy and dangerous for cyclists. Sometimes motor vehicles don't leave enough space between the curb and the flow of traffic for a cyclist to get through. Sometimes the cyclist has no choice but to ride on the sidewalk. The thought of getting hit by a vehicle and getting crippled or killed is not pleasant. The rights of cyclists has come a long way since Lohbado was a boy. Fifty years ago, many took the attitude that cyclists had no business being on the road; roads were for cars and trucks, not bicycles. Now cycling is at least respected. Many motorists also enjoy cycling.
They are more attuned to the danger and so drive cautiously, leaving cyclists enough room.


A huge green area stretches along the Lachine Canal and the river system. Lohbado felt a sense of euphoria to finally arrive by the water, to get off the bike and to relax at a picnic table. The beauty of the greenery, the river and the old brick facades spread a feeling of wellbeing through his nervous system. He relaxed his mind and contemplated the nature of appearances. What is it that meets the eye? What does one hear, smell, taste or feel? How long does each sense experience last? He thought about the history of philosophy, the old discussion about noumena (thing in itself) and phenomena (what appears). What is the connection between the visible and the invisible, between the physical and the mental, the concrete and the abstract? How does a biological system generate something nonbiological, in other words, how do physical events, for example neurons firing in the brain, create thoughts and experiences? Sometimes the mind is compared to a computer. A computer is a physical device. When one turns it on, a magical world of sight and sound appears. Do the images exist in the components of the computer? How do pieces of plastic and metal create what one experiences on the computer? How does so much occur as a result of binary logic or algorithm? A park by the canal is the perfect place to have a little fun philosophizing.