An unfinished silly automatic essay written during my reading of George Perecs "An Attempt at Exhausting a place in Paris."

The misty pathway of exploring knowledge, on one side enlightenment and the other destruction.

Consider the production of Vodka,

From relatively benign origins of grains, potato and sugar beet molasse.  Vodka is passed through a process of distillation and filtering, at each point parts of the original source are removed and the remaining is purified into a potent alcoholic beverage. Though the removal of unnecessary and detrimental elements creates a pure, clear, focused liquid, at each stage the refining of the liquid enters in to states of increased danger, through continual distillation the ethanol levels increase making it more and more volatile. Until in its final form, the vodka enters a superposition, it is ready to be interacted with and holds potential for exalted, giddy joy or violently nauseated terror.    

Even its original state, the humble potato, could cause devastating damage in the right hands, imagine when you asking a professional cricketer chuck you a bag of potatoes in the super market, you might be knocked off your feet and land head first into the fish counter.

A more extreme version of the dangers of process is the production of Meth Amphetamine.

Here is a guide to the production of Meth Amphetamine

• If the ephedrine or pseudo-ephedrine isn't already in pure powder form, then it must be separated from the tablets of cold medicine that contain it. To do this, the cold medicine tablets are mixed with a solvent and the solution is then filtered and exposed to low temperatures to separate and remove the inert material of the tablet.
• The pure pseudo-ephedrine is then mixed with red phosphorus and hydriodic acid.
• The red phosphorus is then filtered out (and later reused), and the remaining acid is neutralized by adding a lye solution.
• A substance is added that will bind to the meth, and the liquid meth is then drained out.
• Hydrogen chloride gas is bubbled through the liquid meth, making it a crystalline hydrochloride salt.
• This is poured through a filter cloth, and the meth that is left on the filter is then dried.
• Once dry, the meth is "stepped on" (mixed down with inert filler in order to maximize profits), weighed and packaged for shipment or sale.

(Scheve, T. 2014)  

As we have seen in any number of scenes in films or television programs, that the process of Meth Amphetamine production is fraught with explosive danger, but its origins are much more ordinary..

“Pseudoephedrine (/ˌsjuːdoʊ.ɨˈfɛdrɪn/ or /ˌsjuːdoʊˈɛfɨdriːn/; PSE) is a sympathomimetic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes. It may be used as a nasal/sinus decongestant, as a stimulant, or as a wakefulness-promoting agent.” Hodges K, Hancock S, Currel K, Hamilton B, Jeukendrup AE; Hancock; Currell; Hamilton; Jeukendrup (February 2006).

Is a simple tool in helping people to relieve their congested nose and to aid them when suffering from a lack of sleep, but even this may be used to nefarious effect by those that come into contact with it, I, in fact have a dear friend who became addicted to nasal sprays until his doctor observed that it was the nasal spray addiction itself that was causing his congested nose. He had a terrible time getting off it and still has to use less stimulating nasal sprays to help with his ravished and congested nose.

My point is that the way is fraught with danger, blissful ignorance, passivity or in action has its dangers, we can come into contact with objects that seem safe but when interacting with them a lack of knowledge can cause us harm, but when we begin to learn and explore these things, blindly following the pathway into the unknown, we open ourselves to potentially life threatening danger.  On one side we can follow the path way, edging forwards, acquiring knowledge observing all, deciding the best way to proceed, using this knowledge we can start making bolder steps forward but if we take our eyes off the path, just for a second, we expose ourselves to dangerous explosive situations that might knock us off the path and into the chasm of tangential disconnectedness. These risky bold steps along the path are tempting and at times it is worth the risk of jumping into the mist, because without risk, everyone follows the well trodden path and nothing new would ever happen. What of those originators, visionaries and the risk takers. What of the visionary writer who aspires to insight a coup? Yukio Mishima, took many considered risks when writing his beautiful novels, pushing the boundaries of contemporary writing, which lead to no less than three nobel prize nominations but when he took the risk of attempting a coup d’etadt to restore the Japanese emperor to the throne, it ultimately failed and led to his decision to perform Seppuku. Some may argue that this has lead to an almost mythological status, in which Mishima has transcended his physical self and entered into the realms of the eternal misguided literary genius? So does this suggest taking these poorly thought out risks is a good idea? Even at the risk of losing your head? They say, “with great rick comes great reward.” But it is difficult to say, on one hand you may discover new things, you may even find the ultimate meaning to life, even if it is just a number. You could free yourself from the trappings of egocentric thinking and become part of a higher collective conscious but is it worth the risk? The simplicity of just observing the world and accepting it as it is has its merits too, appreciating things for their ‘suchness’ can be delightful and even enlightening.  

 Go out into the world dear reader, distil your vodka, cook your meth, but remember to be careful.  Seek knowledge and seek those that can share their own knowledge, but consider this exalted seeker of knowledge, at the time of writing this short essay, I was meant to be writing about my reflections on The George Perec book “An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris) 1977, for a fast approaching tutorial with my project supervisor, in which we will be discussing my project proposal for the Masters degree I am currently doing, and I am now too tired to carry on that writing. Have I followed a tangential pathway and am I now plummeting into the chasm of disconnectedness? Or have I discussed something valuable? Was the process of writing a risk to my future? Or will it help in forming the project I am dedicating the next two years too? Who knows? Whilst on the pathway we cannot know the destination, only the steps we have taken and the next step ahead.

Bibliography;

Wojpob and revisers. 2014. “Vodka.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka. Wikipedia, The Free Encylopedia.

Scheve, T. 2014. ”How Meth Works.”  http://science.howstuffworks.com/meth3.html.  HowStuffWorks.com, Info Space LLC.

Zadcat and revisers.  2002 “Psuedoepedrine.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoephedrine. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Hodges K, Hancock S, Currel K, Hamilton B, Jeukendrup AE; Hancock; Currell; Hamilton; Jeukendrup (February 2006). "Pseudoephedrine enhances performance in 1500-m runners". US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health 38 (2): 329–33. doi:10.1249/01.mss.0000183201.79330.9c. PMID 16531903. ( sourced from Wikipedia.org)

Yenoki, D and revisers. 2002 “Yukio Mishima.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.