# What is your Seminal Event(s)?



## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

What would you describe as a seminal event(s) in your life to date?


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## timmer (Aug 10, 2002)

humm, something to think about thats for sure. Gotta sit on it for bit. Interesting topic.


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## Chealion (Jan 16, 2001)

Doing something Heart usually does...

Seminal

1. Of, relating to, containing, or conveying semen or seed. 2. Of, relating to, or having the power to originate; creative. 3. Highly influential in an original way; constituting or providing a basis for further development: a seminal idea in the creation of a new theory.

(Thank you Sherlock)

I'm hedging my bets that this topic is to do with creativity, and well I shall have to sit on this for a bit also...


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

yes, definition #3 was the intended usage but if u wish to discuss your events involving 'semen', it is a free country.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

I assume Michael is speaking of an event or situation that led to a significant change in life and viewpoint. There are a number I could identify, my daughter waking in my arms having been born asleep was a terrific high point in my life of course but Michael is looking for direction shifts or paradigm shifts and I can certainly pinpoint a couple. One is very clear.

My parents bought me a topical encyclopaedia when I was a kid.
That and a good librarian were my ticket out of a suffocating and backward community.
The adventure of reading that set of articles ( 20 volumes written in topical format - so each major category was written as an overview of the entire topic and an explanation of how it fit into the rest of human knowledge.) led to a lifelong interest in the world and how it works. From history, to geology to astronomy to government structures those volumes gave me a start. No they weren't always correct but it was the "big picture" they provided that counted.
My journey to knowledge and wisdom hasn't ended but I sure know where it began.  

Arthur Koestler's "Act of Creation" helped me integrate the various categories of experience and knowledge into an understandable spectrum. That would be a "seminal" book for me.
Colin Wilson's "The Outsider" and John Fowles "The Magus" would be two other books with similar impact on me personally.

•••
Interesting you should bring this up Michael as I had just such an event happen within the last month and the adventure and impact are still extremely current so unfortunately it's not for public discussion.
But it makes for a terrific story and a very positive one for me....lot's of pixie dust in the air these last few weeks


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

david,

thanx for sharing those stories. indeed any story that one feels was seminal to one is a candidate.

I for one will disclose my seminal moment, the most vivid in my mind, but it is a solemn type of event and as such will leave it until the thread dies out so as not to put a damper on what has hopefully become and interesting and long lasting topic

i look forward to more stories.

"2nd star to the right on straight on till morning."


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

Since I see this thread dying out and as per my promise, I shall share my seminal moment. After all, 'twas I that started all this wasn't it?

Ok, here goes.

My mother was very ill in hospital back in 1995. She went in for emergency surgery and complications set in.

On body system failure led to another then another and so on.

The doctors suggested that we "let nature take its course." They convinced the rest of my family of this, but I piped up and asked; "Did anyone ask her yet?" The answer of course was no.

So I mustered up my courage, looked her in the eyes, told her I loved her and asked my mother, the woman who gave me life, if she wanted to keep living in her current condition. 

She quietly said, "Yes." It was all I could do to keep from crying. I knew I had to be strong for her. After my visit, I wept like a child.

Due to her condition and medication I asked her on 4 seperate occassions to confirm her decision, only so the doctors would not pass off the decision as being due to "medication." Four times the answer was the same.

After the 4th time, I took the physician in charge aside and said; "Look she want to keep fighting. Don't ever make 'that' suggestion again. I don't think that either her nor I could go through it again."

Shaking like a leaf, due to all the pent up frustration, anguish and feelings of forboding, I left.

In that moment, I was transformed. 

I ended up visiting and feeding her twice per day, every day, until she passed.

I have never been the same since.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Michael,

Thanks for sharing.

M.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Michael I don't think it's a downer - it's a very human and touching story - reminds us all that we are mortal and children.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

For me, it was holding my 10 minute old son in my arms for the first time. A nurse too a picture of it, although I was totally unaware of anyone or anything around me at the time. He is now 16, taller than me, and a typical teen-age "pain in the ass"...but I love him still.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

These are somethat third party but in the spirit of the thread and certainly reinforced in me the idea that there can be life altering events - even in what appears to be casual occurences. Sometimes you need to put yourself in the path of of change.
A bunch of university friends of mine would get together each year on Victoria Day ( and other long weekends ) and we would do something "different". We called it the Victoria Day Holding Company and actually jointly bought a property on Manitoulin island.
One year we all tried caving in West Virgina and one of the more 'hard nosed' members, pilot, martial arts practioner, motorcyclist, discovered to his great embarrassment he was clearly, violently claustrophic even tho' he was a certified scuba diver.
He, and I unfortunately, discovered this entering a tight part of the cave where one caver had to help the next along. I was the "one" caver.
Having a 200 lb hard body type have a major panic attack in a space the size of a closet felt rather life threatening for me to say the least.
Bruising too as I became the next best thing to a ladder for him to get out, very quickly and with little regard for what part of my anatomy he used for footholds








He apologized after - he was in shock at his reaction. He actually went into a commercial cave later and was nervous but toughed it out. Lucky he did not go to the next step in the first cave which was sliding down a 20' mud hole only slightly wider than your shoulders at a 45 degree angle. That was scary for us all - these were unimproved "wild" caves. Taught Craig a bit of humility - even the toughest guys have weaknesses they can't overcome. We all learned that cavers are fundamentally "nuts"!

Another weekend we all went rafting and kayaking on the Madawaska River in Northern Ontario. None of us had done any whitewater rafting before. We all had fun but my wife ( at the time) got hooked. 5 years later, after many bruises and sore muscles, hours of training and travelling across North America she won the Canadian Downriver championship.  Certainly that specific adventure changed the direction of her life.
Mine too, I was a casual paddler but I could roll in anything ( comfortable upside down because of my diving) so they let me come along because while I was upside down quite often, they didn't have to rescue me . I know very intimately the bottom contours of several Canadian whitewater rivers having mapped them with my head  

The last one I remember from that group was the instigators 'seminal moment". Bill was the ideas guy and had many life goals - the Himalayas, rafting the Grand Canyon ( hence the adventure above ) to name a couple.
He was, however, unable to swim and very afraid of being in the water above his waist - clinging to a dock for dear life. Some childhood trauma at play in his mind.
I had been diving and snorkeling since forever so I strapped a mask and snorkel on him and towed him around the small lake for 20 minutes until he was comfortable. Once he could "SEE" what was below he lost his fear.
There was a small waterfall/rapids near the campground and he paddled and explored at the base of the falls. The sheltered area had obviously been a campground for hundreds of years ( near the French River ) and of course bottles got tossed into the water. ( pre - recycling obviously







).
So after several hours of this Bill emerges looking something like a shrivelled prune, grinning like a 5 year old and loaded with a dozen or so small colourful bottles - medicine or spice bottles from the past.
We didn't think much of it at the time but Bill started looking up their origins and started collecting them as they were pretty to put in the house - we had a few as well. - they were very nice to look at.
Well Bill got seriously hooked and started scouting old dumps - I remember digging with him on some old overgrown homestead.
10 years later, after becoming a full time antique dealer he sold that medicine bottle collection for over $1/4 million dollars and the show was at the Skydome.  
All from a weekend adventure, overcoming his fear of water and accidentally discovering some "treasures". You just never know where life will take you but Bill always tried to put that "random new and interesting event" in our way . We all have fond memories.

Last I heard Bill had rafted the Colorado River and had spent several years as a missionary in Nepal.....very specifically following his Himalayan life goal. His wife was my cousin and gamely tagged along on all Bill's adventures and treks fulfilling his life list. Pauline was a cool lady.

Life can take the most unexpected turns. My adventures this last month sure reinforced that little nugget of wisdom. You just never know what the universe will dish up when you least expect it.  

C'mon guys there are lots more interesting stories in the eHmac crowd - let's hear a few.


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