to abstract: to take out of context, to remove the essence of, to reduce to a pastel shade of, to lose focus of, to bore to the death of, to space out of... abstraction is DIStraction sans SATISfaction. Try it! Abstract a steaming cup of cocoa with marshmellows floating among the bubbles of cream and chocolate... does it taste as good? We use abstraction to escape when life is too intense. Name something that you have abstracted lately? Then go back and see is for what it really is.