Apotropaic Intonation

There is nothing corny at all about positive thinking. Its too bad people must figure that out for themselves. I like to think of the Devil as the embodiment of the negative-thinking meme. Call it chaos, reality, evil--whatever. Anyone can sit around providing proof there's no such thing as good or evil until the cows come home, but at the end of the day--someone has to know that evil is alive and well.

Let me put it to you this way. Sometimes things happen between us we'd rather not, such as disputes among family members and loved ones. We can choose to let fate work it out---stay out of it and let the gears of the reeling cosmos execute whatever justice it will. Sometimes I think that must be tempting to a lot of us. It is my belief that if we do that--then any of a billion equally terrifying fates potentially, and quite randomly, await us. I'd rather not place myself on the yawning altar of space as a piece of bait, like that.

Instead, I choose to wield some form of human moral code and interlock my shield with fellow soldiers to direct Hell itself (negative-thinking meme-pool) away from us--to re-direct its course--in another direction. To decant it back into the vacuum it came from. I believe if we do nothing, the dark side of the wild will seize the chance to take root---using our blood for its fertile soil--and our bodies as the clay pots.

And The Meek Shall Inherit The Bees

The over-productivity of the post-Industrial capitalist paradigm is reaching its critical mass breaking point. Feeling stifled under the crushing avalanche of environmental disasters, I begin to get an overall picture of what is going on, here. Take CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) for example. As the Old Business Paradigm surpasses its breaking point (due to Greedy Principles, short-sightedness, and the prioritization of short-term profiteering over long-term environmental compatibility), their businesses will Collapse: “Wide Scale Distribution Network Collapse Disorder”, I'll call it. As the old businesses scratch their heads in wonderment as to what happened (commercial beekeeping is the perfect example) and file for Chapter 11 one by one, the new paradigm of organic beekeepers (who have reported no loss of bees due to CCD) and local area networks of farmers, etc, will, naturally, step in to take their place. This is literally an example of the meek inheriting the earth. And it’s happening Right Now. I urge all my friends to meditate deeply on this and realize that through the power of positive thinking we can assist and help catapult this new holistic paradigm into supplanting the old Profiteering Business model. Remember: just when things begin to appear at their worst, humanity will be spurred on towards getting it together to work towards our own personal and collective best.

Please realize that negative thinking - (the bees are dying, the oceans are polluted, man’s inhumanity to man seems to be at an all time high, global warming trends are exacerbated by our incessant mass pollution, 3rd World Industrialization contributes more toxicity to the environment, children and women are not only still being sold into slavery - but slavery itself is historically at an all-time high now, the diversity of wild animal populations and habitats being pushed to the brink of extinction and over it, etc) - negative thinking only generates a whirlwind of more negative thinking, and that doesn’t help our situation at all, in fact it undermines the spirit of mankind, which is to bravely strive towards a conscientious and harmonious interdependence with our environment in order to pave the way for future generations to enjoy the opportunity to inherit a kind of heaven on earth. Let us all banish pessimism and hopelessness about these doomsday matters and start working hands-on towards establishing a positive ethic of symbiotic interdependence with each other and this singular planet we all share together. Grow your own garden. Keep bees. Buy or trade for only fresh, natural, locally–grown fruits, vegetables, and foods. If we all do this on an individual level, we will most certainly inherit this earth and be given a clean slate from which to start all over again. This is what is going on right now, so let’s get with the program and someday in the not-so-distant future we might be able to look back on the previous era of excess for exactly what it was: a phase we successfully put behind us once and for all.

American Hierocracy X

Once upon a time the dis-ease of a people
escaped for a spell the rule by the steeple;
but after fools have steeped in rule
for a couple centuries at least, soon enough
they acquire the taste for power of this beast.

It flowers up into their eyes until the day
comes they despise the rank and file below them,
considering themselves to have been lifted
up higher until comes the day they too wake up
afflicted with the disease of the steeple.

And so this serpent eats its tail because order
and chaos must each prevail at the expense of
mankind, ever chasing after as if there's
something to be acquired or to find
other than these diseases. There must be
Something up there this merry-go-round pleases.

Dog-eared Gone It, We Don't Want It

"Printed books will always be greater than their electronic imitators."
Yeah, and boiled roots taste better than deep fried french potaters.
Old hoots will always come easier to aging dogs faced with new tricks.
Moldy roots are out of fashion; that's why today we prefer gel caps.

Rotary dials will deliver us smiles over em crowdedtogether buttons,
landlines should suit us fine, there's no need to carry phones with us.
Answering machines really are keen, we hate to respond on the run--
we prefer getting so many messages, and deleting them one by one.

A written letter by longhand's better, we miss the taste of our stamps.
Not to mention the price: no, it wouldn't be nice if it were revamped
to be done free on the internets electronically. Pencilling our address
in by hand is so much more rewarding--begone foul spirit of technology:

we simply can't afford it. We've chosen exorcism to ward it away,
the recitation of our habits, with habits we shun it completely,
with habits we remain in the nunnery, you know what they say--
old habits die hard, thanks, but we prefer to just play in the yard.

Cut to the chase, its a race between youth and those already ahead.
They've a fresh start, and the best part is, the rest are nearly dead.
One deep breath of a leatherbound book: you having trouble hearing?
What binds us instead of a world-wide-web?
We're almost in the clearing.

book note entry

On about a winter
long hour cut short
During a terminal
afternoon too late
to abort, this momentary
reprieve arrives like
a slap on the stunned
chops of abject reflection.

In the rippled disarray
a forest of shadows beckons.
How does one decide between
fight and flight in a dream?
It depends on what one wants
out of life and remember, reality
is not what it might seem.

passing the lie

God put Adam in his garden.
Adam said he was lonely.
The Lord broke his ribs.
He made a woman out of one,
"There, you have no reason to complain."
Oh but Adam did, because
he was still only talking to himself.
Now both Eve and Adam stared
forlorn toward God.
"And don't eat outta that Tree"
bang went the screen door.
And while Adam tried to "find himself"
in a corner, Eve turned to speak
with the garden snake
who flickered the secret to her
and the next day Eve brought Adam
a pomegranate and urged him
to go ahead and eat it because
the garden snake said it was okay.
They both looked at each other then
and smiling, Adam bit into that fruit.

-the moral of this story is-
(What they didn't tell you in Church
is that now we're even with God)

On words, bricks, prisons, and freedom

on words

A good purpose of
words is to serve
as a solvent which
assists in breaking
down those barriers
which block the truth.

A bad purpose of words
is to serve as the mortar
used in building up, brick
by brick, those very same
structures. Truth itself
is neither good nor bad.
Words only frame the
windows through which
we can tell this.

on bricks

The foundation is
made of half-truths.
Its walls are made
of lies. A glass roof
invites mockery
from the stars.

on prisons

Thus are the houses
we are invited to
dwell in. Too often do we
make them our homes.

on freedom

With honesty as your sword,
let truth be your shield
and in to this brick prison
you will never yield.

untangling the mess

DEFINITIONS OF ISRAEL

1 : jacob
2 : the Jewish people
3 : a people chosen by God


---definition of jacob
---1 : a son of Isaac and Rebekah, the twin brother of Esau, and heir of
---God's promise of blessing to Abraham
---2 : the ancient Hebrew nation

DEFINITION OF HEBREW

1
a: the Semitic language of the ancient Hebrews
b: any of various later forms of this language
2: a member of or descendant from one of a group of northern Semitic peoples including the Israelites

DEFINITION OF SEMITIC

1 : of, relating to, or constituting a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic language family that includes Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Amharic
2 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the Semites
3 : jewish

DEFINITION OF SEMITES

1
a: a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs
b: a descendant of these peoples
2: a member of a modern people speaking a Semitic language



*see DEFINITION OF ISRAELITE, below*


DEFINITION OF JEW

1 a: a member of the tribe of Judah; israelite
2: a member of a nation existing in Palestine from the sixth century b.c. to the first century a.d.
3: a person belonging to a continuation through descent or conversion of the ancient Jewish people
4: one whose religion is Judaism

DEFINITION OF ISRAELITE

1. a descendant of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob ; specifically : a native or inhabitant of the ancient northern kingdom of Israel

*see DEFINITION OF ISRAEL, above*

DEFINITION OF JUDAH

1: a son of Jacob and the traditional eponymous ancestor of one of the tribes of Israel
2:kingdom S(?) ancient Palestine * Jerusalem — see israel

DEFINITION OF EPONYMOUS

of, relating to, or being an eponym

DEFINITON OF EPONYM

1 : one for whom or which something is or is believed to be named
2 : a name (as of a drug or a disease) based on or derived from an eponym

DEFINITION OF the TRIBES OF ISRAEL

homo sapiens sapiens(?)

Question:
WHAT PEOPLE ON EARTH
ARE EXCLUDED
FROM BEING
DESCENDANTS
OF THE TRIBES
OF ISRAEL?


Please, let me know.

The empty focus

Why no talk about the empty focus inherent to Kepler's assertion
that planetary motion about the sun is elliptical? It's no secret
the Sun is but one of two focuses inside the ellipse.

If the Sun's mass is responsible for the motion of its
planetary bodies encircling it, then it follows that there must be
an explanation accounting for the empty focus, and whether or not anything is there at all, or perhaps something like dark matter, energy, flow, or possibly a dark sun.

Four theories jump immediately to mind.

1. Perhaps the two focuses inside an ellipse are not in actuality
restricted to being mere "points", but rather, perhaps those two points are but static instances along an additional ellipse (or circle) which describes the Sun's own path. (Just the next logical step in the progression of the next dimensional order of complexity.)

2. Perhaps the empty focus is the point where a dark sun occupies.

3. Perhaps the empty focus is the ideal spot to place a hidden camera. [Such a monitoring device may have been hidden here by this system's Creator(s), to keep tabs on us, for example.]

4. The most intriguing theory to me, and seemingly less paranoid (yet also more improbable), is this. What if the empty focus were the actual location of a holographic projector device which is responsible for creating the illusion of what we perceive to be our solar system, universe, or even reality? Bear with me while I make the necessary points for these postulations to be considered as being within the realm of possibility.

If you were to fashion an elliptical pool table (for instance) and then identified the two focus points, first placing a pocket (for the pool balls to drop into) at one of the focuses, and then putting a marker (for a pool ball to be placed on) at the other focus, something quite interesting is set up to occur. Place a pool ball on the marked focus point and then shoot it in any direction whatsoever, and it will always bounce off the inner wall of the ellipse and travel directly into the pocket where the other focus lies.

The implications for how this might affect our understanding of our solar system are intriguing to me. Since our Sun is at one of the focuses, that means that all the light which emanates from the Sun, were it to "bounce off the inner walls" of earth's elliptical trajectory, would then be reflected directly into the empty focus (which counterbalances the Sun's position). This observation of course can work both ways (hence my theory of a possible holographic projector at the empty focus instead).

Two things immediately come to mind. The first is that the empty focus might be a perfect place where a cosmic Designer might place a hidden camera. I haven't figured out the mathematics but its possible this spot might remain well hidden from the prying eyes of astronomers, I don't know. The second thing is that the empty focus could be the position of a holographic projector which is responsible for projecting the image of our universe (or solar system) to us. i.e, a sort of artificial machine which projects "the matrix", to coin a contemporary popular term.

These amusing speculations aside, the real concern which first must strike the conspicuous observer, is that arc which describes the progress of history's astronomers' initial observations. It has been said that one may begin drawing a circle at any point, so I will begin with Galileo having theorized about the possible heliocentric nature of our planetary orbits, then move on to Kepler's slight correction of these pathways into an ellipse (by necessity including now two focuses rather than the original single focus of the Sun resting in the direct center of a circle). Hence the most obvious and first order of speculation must be the admission of a (most likely high) probability that Kepler, too, may have been mistaken (albeit further along the path towards the truth). Herein is where we must consider the possibility that both Galileo's (circle) theory and Kepler's (ellipse) theory are but the first two relatively crude steps towards our having discovered the true(r) nature of these planetary motions.

The most likely explanation for the empty focus point in our own solar system, in my opinion, is the first of the four theories described above. The theory which states the empty focus is nothing but a static point along the path of our Sun's own trajectory.

Which brings me to the consideration of a thesis. The objective of the thesis would be to distinguish whether Kepler's ellipse theory is actually correct or if, indeed, he merely succeeded in shading one more dimension of the model which will eventually be completed by a current or future astronomer. Upon considering the possibilities myself, I tend to think there is still much to work out about this model of the motions of our universe's celestial bodies.

To bring this matter into proper perspective, allow me to chart our progress of these models for celestial movement via dimensional analogy. I will ascribe the "1st dimensional step" towards solving this puzzle to Galileo (a point = heliocentric), and the "2nd dimensional step" to Kepler (the two focus points make a line = elliptical); therefore, its a relatively simple matter to plug in the "3rd dimensional step" to whomever is credited with having made the discovery (a 3rd focus whose inclusion would better describe cubic space = the next theory, i.e, holographic).

File Under Dodo

You know what items I think are highest on the "soon to become a thing of the past" list ?

~Balls. We who enjoy a fine set of these things (guys-?) should really marvel over the fact that, well that we got 'em. Because balls are going out of style, and in my estimation, right out of the evolutionary order of things. Honestly its quite evident to me that anyone with a set of these outdated items should simply enjoy them while they can. Because not only are they going out of style, I'm beginning to suspect humanity is reaching that stage when parthenogenesis will supplant the old paradigm of sexual reproduction. Not only are balls going the way of the Dodo, but I'm afraid the "stems" to which they're attached (formerly known as the "male" of our species) may soon be relegated to Neanderthal status; that is, strictly a throwback to human evolution. I imagine a near future time when either most males will be neutered at birth until such time comes that we are born asexual, ultimately - or just fast-forward to the inevitable extinction of the male sex altogether. I am convinced the males of our species have outlived their usefulness.

~Individuality. I think the problem going on now is one of an entirely different order than we might wish to imagine. First off, I think human life is, at this point in our history, and by definition, quite cheap. At 6 billion and counting, we’ve simply dissolved completely away whatever value our individual lives might once have had. Humankind is going through major changes in how it sets up its own basic life support system; I tend to think the rugged days of individualism itself are quickly becoming a thing of the past. What this means is, those of us who might fancy ourselves as “individualists” today are, by definition, throwbacks to a period in human history already quite done for. I.e, We who like to imagine we “think for ourselves” are like the few cavemen left struggling amidst a burgeoning sea of plugged-in drones who largely support our society, now. The capitalist-driven faction of our world, ironically set up by individualism itself, has reached a phase now wherein it must continue to be supported by a culture of faceless masses without the necessity to think for themselves. i.e, It (once “we”) now has Technology to do its thinking for it - -cellphones memorize our loved one’s phone numbers, iPods’ programmings select our choices of music, etc. I’m willing to bet my life that most Americans today plugged into their iPods and PS3s, etc, really couldn’t think for themselves and furthermore, wouldn’t really want to. Let’s be honest here - - why would you want to think for yourself if you can have your blackberry, iPod, or celly do it for you? Face it - thinking is going out of style. And that’s as it should be - - mankind has been burdened with having to think for itself for far too long, if you ask me. Which leads to the third most popular item on humanity's list soon to be struck from the record, so to speak:

~Thinking. Thinking itself is overrated - let the robots do that.

You think I’m being snarky or sarcastic ? Hahah, get your iPhone to think for you again. Give up your dream and hope of humanity “growing an extra set of testicles” any time in the future. And that’s because the balls we once had dropped long ago. And now they’ve shriveled up, soon to be relegated to the spurious sections of our anatomy; how much you wanna bet that sexual reproduction for our species will be the next thing to go, after our individuality? Like I mentioned before, it isn’t difficult for me to imagine a near future where most males are simply neutered at birth or just born without packages period, until parthenogenesis becomes the new human standard for reproduction of our species.

Yes I’m suggesting that not only are “balls” swiftly becoming a thing of the past, along with individualism and thinking; but more to the point -- if you or a loved one happen to *be* or *know* a male specimen of our species who still reads, thinks, and has balls — simply urge them (or yourself, whichever the case may be) to enjoy what they got while they got it — cuz all them "bells & whistles" are being relegated to the “recycle bin” of humanity’s evolution, even as we post. /"Smoke em while you got em"

Glimpses.

1. Our natural state is that of a whore.
2. Because one picture is worth a thousand words.
3. The more the exposure, the cheaper the appearance.
4. By controlling one's image, transcendance is possible.
5. Total exposure, the actual self, is the most base.
6. When revealing yourself, less equals more.
7. This is how you salvage some grace.
8. Knowing the painted is the real face.
9. So you see the unbridled danger of honesty.
10.How appropriate not to spread the truth.

Open Letter

Dear World,

Today I think I finally understand
something. How to end terrorism.
All terrorism, great and small.
Infernal or holy.

Think: Instead of maintaining
as we have for centuries, that "God is on our side"
(as if it were in contradiction to our adversary's situation)
why not instead try giving them the benefit of the doubt?

We could say to them "You are right and we are wrong.
There's just one thing. Real humanity represents
a mix of all that is most sublime and beautiful
with all that is most vile and monstrous in the world.
A vigorous thinker by the name of Michael once stated this.
We Americans understand now that in order to get over this,
we refer to one aspect as divine and the other bestial,
representing divinity and animality as two poles,
and in between we've placed ourselves, humanity.

We at long last have come to realize, in painful hindsight,
that these three states are not, and never have been,
seperate at all. And our history can be said to have
diligently worked at keeping them seperate, which is to say,
destroy their unity. Which is to say, destroy ourselves.
This destruction when focused in on to the highest resolution
(the present) can be seen directly in terrorism and wars.

We Americans now realize that if we earnestly desired
the cessation of these things, it would be necessary
to abandon our insistence in believing in this antiquated
notion of God. We Americans are willing to admit
we are growing up, and that it is necessary for us
to change our minds."

Therefore, we can also add "Have your God. You may keep Him."It is not that we are getting rid of ours, but rather
we've woken up to the reality that He was never as we
had envisioned Him in the first place.

We Americans have decided it's time to acknowledge
that the three poles of our religious creed:
divinity, humanity, and animality, are indeed one entire
inseparable entity. We Americans believe it is time to
walk the walk and truly emancipate ourselves,
and become free. We Americans throw off the shackles
of our outdated conception of God;
you keep your own conception, as you wish.

We simply want to acknowledge
the wholeness, the unity of all men, beasts,
and living things. In our moment of clarity,
we are even willing to concede that non-living
things may deserve our respect as also being
a part of this scattered whole, and will do our best
to respect them as well, and not defile them.

We Americans are tired of remaining unconscious slaves
to the false order of divinity implemented so many
generations ago, which gives the state power and license
to unevenly distribute the wealth and well-being
of our nation. We feel that if we finally stop
trying to keep these three aspects of our humanity
and existence separate, then the process of healing
will begin. But we feel honor-bound to warn you:
we see now that your own society is fundamentally
no different than ours. It could be said that
you are at a different stage than us in your status as
(necessarily) Slaves to the counterbalancing status of
your Master. Allah is within you, as God is within us.

"Allah" and "God" are just two words in different languages
which reference the same thing. Our task ahead is difficult.
For it is not about which of us is right, but rather,
that we are both wrong. This simple truth can be difficult
to accept. We Americans will put down our pride.

We hope you will be able to put down your own, as well.
But your business is your own. If you wish to continue
putting a strain on creation with your spiritual divisions,
we are sorry. But we thought you should know
that we will not tolerate this state of underdeveloped
maturity within ourselves any longer.

We now know we were wrong, and are prepared to admit it.
We are also very excited about turning
our now more grown-up minds back to
the original question of divinity.

We will remind ourselves that the face of God is something
we can not ever totally see. We are enthusiastic about
the prospect of revisualising the divinity of the whole
of life on this planet, and our roles in it.

We can only hope that, given some positive results,
that you may look forward sometime to doing the same,
and free yourselves from the chains you yourselves wrought.
See these chains of ours? They say "made in USA".
We are getting rid of them, at long last. We now see
why Church and State must be kept separate.

We will reclaim our heritage, for our fore-fathers
already laid the groundwork for us; we simply forgot it.
Our fear got the best of us, and consequently has left us
exposing the worst. We Americans vow to remember
what it really means to be the home of the brave.
(Our indigenous predecessors not withstanding)
it refers to the courage required to defy these antiquated
religious doctrines imposed upon us, so that we might truly
embrace our freedom, having tossed off the shackles
of oppression. Voltaire was quoted as saying
"If God weren't real, it would be necessary
for us to invent him." But he was checkmated
with the statement "If God were real,
it would be necessary to abolish him."

I say this reveals to us that the natural state of affairs
is without the existence of "God" -- at least the old
conception of God we have formulated across the expanse
of our mass consciousness -- and therefore,
what we are about to abolish is merely our old,
faulty preconceptions about what "God" is.

We Americans see now that this may be the only way
to stand a chance at starting over again.
When our state of slavery to these embedded
notions is annulled, then so too will the power
be dissolved not from God -- remember, that was only
a flawed concept to begin with; a mistaken understanding --
but rather, the power will be dissolved from those
factions of humanity which served to (mis)represent
the delegates of this divine authority.

And they are precisely the ones whom we are
the most desperate to have stripped of this power.
We Americans insist on history's first peaceful revolt.
Because we have thought this through, and we now can see
how this dynamic has worked, all these years.
We Americans are committed to allowing
the healing process to begin.

Caveat:

Our saving grace (should we be mistaken about
God) will naturally be, that to have attempted
this thing will only be relegated to the already
accepted notion of having sinned, something no
different than where we are at now.
We Americans know we have nothing to lose.

Amen

Ourselves.

The promotion of intellectual crime
by way of tanno-gallate of iron,
with gum arabic and water, used to
facilitate the infection of idiocy

may have transmogrified through
various properties and incantatory
rituals, from ink to email, but
the function remains the same, to make

reputations, and unmake them; to blacken
them or to make them white.
The caustic quest is to burn
these stories into the mind's eye.

Imperial associations are gradually corroded.
With these staves the music is woven with which
we charm the serpents of iniquity from guarding
our enemies' treasure. That being their secret identity.

Ourselves.

mirrorsails

Check out the reflections
and notice similarities,
shake out recollections and
get rid of the disparities.

There's an organization on the crawl,
it's left its shadow on the wall.
The imprints are diminishing and
respectively we're finishing

the arcs of each dream
strung out like a rosary
spinning us dizzy and
leaving simply no choice

but to choose to use
the protocols we confused
for inconveniences.
If change is the name

of the norm, then we
must modify our form
to not just embrace it,
but skilfully surf it.

Resistance is futile.
Hang Ten with each new wave.
Crunch the numbers and mold them
so they work for, not against us.

Do the math first;
minimize the worst.
Stay on top, and
get the drop.

Push against the blade
with a chain mailed fist.
Use that edge against them
so they cut their own wrist.

I'm sorry but I must insist
we get with the program before
the moderators get pissed.
But here's the gist:

Allowing yourself to be
programmed is to follow
the rest and be damned.
Take the reigns and surf the wave.

Start shaping the new plan.
Wear it like armor.
Give it time and soon
it will feel like a new skin.

Shed the old fears
and feel the sudden wind.
Spread your tailored sails
and let the voyage begin.

What If...

...There is no such thing as extraterrestrials,
only post-terrestrials (and pre-terrestrials).

...The vastness of space holds no alien life;
only across time can alien life forms emerge
(before or after us on the timeline).

...Earth is the virtual center of our creation.

We like to think of space as this sort of
"wide open area", like a vast room;
when in fact, space may be nothing of the sort.
Rather, it might be more like a vast labyrinth
comprised of the narrowest passages linking
to each other in an interminable array of
unpredictable twists and turns.

What if the wide gyre of sprawled starpoints
spread out before us in the night sky was
really nothing but the illumination reaching
us from long ago, now dead stars?
/end 'as if you haven't heard that before'
This would indicate that perhaps - the only
real, living portions of the universe are that
branch of the galaxy we are a part of. Said branch
would extend from our system from two (and only two)
directions; in one direction the remainder of our branch
of the Milky Way extends (of which we are roughly
three-fourths of the way along already); in the other
direction the branch of our galaxy upon which we are
situated extends towards the central hub.

One or both of these directions could be in our
"blind spots". They may extend just beyond the curve
of our cosmic horizons. All remaining stars spangled
and glittering across the night may be nothing but
backdrop afterglow, the galactic equivalent of a sort
of peripheral glare.

Only portions of our own branch of the galaxy,
extending in two directions from us,
might be glimpsed sunken brightly amidst the murk
and glare of all those lost stars beyond.

The Death Of Imagination

I have foreseen the future of the human race by extrapolating from current trends.

Today we all dwell within an age that must yet be classified as being within the subheading of darkness; i.e, despite advances in technology, I feel we are most likely in our darkest hour.

I believe this is because we, as virtual cavemen, are still possessed by our imaginations. Hence the proliferation of wildly expressive and divergent art forms, be they painting, poetry, writing, movies, video games, you name it.

Furthermore I am prepared to state: Due to the inherent savagery of this, our darkest hour, such fare as art has become our loftiest ideal. That is to say we exalt and hold our art on the highest pedestal. We champion our heroes and writers, be they Shakespeare or Andy Warhol, whose works we not only admire, but often speak of in hushed tones as being almost sacred.

I have hope for the human race, and believe that one day, the remaining collective will at last evolve past the dark age mire we are currently wallowing in to the point of despair. Yet I suspect this hopeful evolution will involve the death of imagination.

It will be a good thing. Our current ideologies (which exalt art, for instance) will fall by the wayside. The wildly unbalanced imaginations we so cherish today will be looked upon as barbaric by our descendants. Such things as horror tales and diverse paintings and video games will all become eventually abolished as the human mind must perforce give up spurious imaginings in favor of a hard line progressive mentality which eschews fruitless artworks in order for the real humanitarian problems facing us to be solved.

I imagine that art itself will not be entirely abolished, however. Instead, it will resemble something so refined, so minimalist in its execution and symmetry, that we today do not have the brainpower to recognise it as art (only they -- our inheritors and future solvers of most humanitarian crises facing us now -- will be able to appreciate their own art, whose delicacies will remain so refined that we ourselves are poorly equipped to detect them).

In conclusion, I offer this consolation:
You and I will be long buried, of course. Therefore, I say to you: cherish the art and writings we now indulge in. They are momentary reprieves from this stage in human evolution; this, our darkest hour.

Perhaps,

the most terrifying prospect facing mankind is being free.
Truly, independantly, completely and actually free.
Because from the day we are born, everything, but absolutely
everything, is handed to us. Everything but our freedom;
that is something we have to work for. Perhaps
Freedom is never just handed over. It is taken & seized:
or it is denied. That is, should it ever come to that.
In truth, the great majority remain imprisoned in their worlds
handed over to them. Perhaps passing the world along
is all that keeps it alive. Perhaps we remain the world's slaves
so that it might be free.

2 questions, 1 answer

Is the ultimate wisdom . . .
that knowledge is an illusion?
Or is it to question this?

On Engineers and the Stewardship of Earth

Pluck a tulip and study it carefully. Inside its bell shaped dome offered up to the sun is a hexagonal dark stained pattern with 6 insect-leg-looking spiny things around the pistil, which has its own interesting engorged shape. It is easy to ascertain how it is designed to attract the honey bee. That's what a tulip is - - this "station" for a worker honeybee to fly into and begin doing its "work".
What work is that, you say? Well the entire bottom-line business of keeping the flow of pollination going, of course -- an intricate process occurring at a very small, specific level of reality -- one might call it working nature from the "ground up", and the bees literally perform this activity, dutifully and busily. Like they say, "busy as a bee", right?

Well I imagined - and I think its important for us to imagine things - even if they are mere fantasies -- often the process of speculation is a means of lubricating our thinking process, so that when we stumble across real, correct ideas we can get through those too -- I imagined how ironic it would be (and I really appreciate irony, which I feel often reflects fundamental truths) if "God" turned out to be, quite literally, the honeybees themselves. The idea has a quaintness to it that I like. At the very least, its not difficult to imagine the bees as fundamental agents of "God" in any case (if not an aspect of God itself), and I like to imagine that the honeybees are the "Engineers", literally helping Creation along. Like seamstresses tirelessly working the bottom line of reality, helping to maintain the circuitous flow of life. I see the honeybees as "groundkeepers" or janitors, entrusted to perform this fundamental duty involving pollination via myriad species of flowers.

Now this is simply an exercise in "thinking outside the box", and here is my point in all this:

Let's just assume for the sake of argument that the honeybees literally ARE the "engineers" of creation. Notice how small they are, in comparison to us. And if you bring your focus down close to a tulip - - the "room" or "station" that the honeybee performs his crucial task in --- well, what if that level of reality -- the very small level which we must get down on our knees to examine closely -- what if that IS the real common denominator -level of reality (and not our titanic eye-level of mountainous cities) -?

It suggests the notion that what we perceive to be the "dominant species" of the planet, the Titans, the Leviathans, the Behemoths - - that is Ourselves, just like the dinosaurs were in a previous era -- are really just another link in the assembly line of workers, here. Because you see, it all becomes relative; if you contrast humans (who average about 6 feet tall, 160 pounds or so) with bees, then you can see that homo sapiens are quite literally GIGANTIC by comparison. Just like the dinosaurs. Meaning we're freakin' dinosaurs, after a fashion. (In comparison to the "gods" - the honeybees - that is.) Which are teensy tiny, able to fit in the palm of our hand.

All of this is to merely suggest the roles we (by "we" meaning, all species of life) each play in the maintenance of creation. Now if the bees are the "engineers" workin down in the boiler room keeping the thermodynamic balance of our ecosystem on an even keel so to speak, well obviously we homo sapiens have our own role, too.

And I believe that role is the stewardship of the earth. In a capacity similar to the bees, but employed w/a different task, we human beings are supposed to be the stewards of this planet. While the bees are doing their "bottom line electrical work" or whatnot, we are supposed to be the next level of a guiding hand -- the Watchmen - - the Caretakers -- also Janitors of a sort -- whose brains are supposed to have developed to the point where we can ascertain the importance of maintaining the integrity of our habitat.

We seem to be failing miserably at this simple task. Many indigenous tribes throughout earth seem to have not failed. They looked ahead 7 generations. They wasted not the flesh of each creature they killed to help sustain their tribe. They maintained a balance with nature.

But now, we live in a world of "Life without Balance", or Koyaanisqatsi. It is because we "stewards" have failed to keep our egos in check. Our ego has swelled to the point we believe ourselves as, for one, actually being "seperate" from the rest of creation! And not only that, but "superior" ! Imagine that. Just because of our "titanic" size -- and the "anthills" of our empires -- we think of ourselves as somehow being "next to God". On a fundamental level we most likely are a part of God; but our role as "guardians" of creation is a humble one. No more important nor less so than the job assigned to the honeybees.

If we could ever get it in our heads that we're "only human" -- if we pulled our heads out of the clouds for a moment, and examined the tulips for instance, and what a crucial role they exchange w/the bees and all manner of insects -- we might renew our sense of wonder at this marvelously engineered universe and acceed that the most seemingly "trivial" roles are as noble and worthy as the most apparantly "kingly" roles.

Our Life has been delineated severely Out Of Balance, and we are facing the point where our own free wills and sense of superiority over the rest of Life is resulting NOT in the establishment/maintenance of HEAVEN ON EARTH (a state that most likely has nothing to do with "the afterlife") but rather, quite unfortunately, in the degredation of the potential quality of life into a HELL ON EARTH (see: the state of the world today).

That is the way I see it, that various saviours from different cultures were speaking of a CODE to live by which would help insure our role as the humble Guardians of this world by which to maintain and establish the Kingdom of Heaven here and now while we're breathing and alive.

We have forsaken, ignored, or simply misunderstood their teachings in our egotistical quests for dominance and thus are busily paving the way straight to hell, instead.

This trend could be reversed but it looks increasingly hopeless from where I stand.

vira bacterius

I got an upgrade over the last 5 days. Appearing in the form of Streptococcal pharyngitis (a bad case of strep throat),
I've come to realize that it has, in fact, functioned in an aspect which kinda parallels PKD's 3/74 incident, the "beam of pink light" he alleged downloaded all this information to his brain
he previously was not in possession of (such as ancient Latin and other esoteric knowledge).

We come to loathe and despise these viruses or bacteria cultures because of how bad they make us feel, temporarily. And when they kill us, well that really gets our goat though don't it? By "us" of course I mean our friends and family, people we read about in the news, but I'll get to the fatal viruses in another section, bear with me whilst I ruminate on non-fatal, but kick- you- in- the- ass- while- raping- your- head type viruses, like the Epstein-Barr virus for instance, which infects B cells (B-lymphocytes), producing a reactive lymphocytosis and atypical T cells (T-lymphocytes), and leads to everyone's favorite kissing disorder, "mononucleosis", or mono.

Allow me to use my own strep throat as an example.
This thing has taken up residence in my head
and has consequently made me feel bad for the past 5 days.

Thing is -- what if (and here's the clincher), what if in the larger scheme of things, this infection is actually part of the overall software program (which we, in our ignorance bless us all, refer to as "divinity") which in actuality ends up being a good thing, i.e, a necessary sort of tool that is implemented to tinker with our particular subcellular physiognomy in order that we might be maintained properly, as the good lil' robots we actually happen to be.

This is my theory: Imagine, if you will, a type of robot whose programming was just sophisticated enough to bestow it with smooth functioning yet never allow it the comprehension to perceive itself to be a robot. That, I believe, is analogous to our own particular state, as the species homo sapien sapiens.

Think of it this way: by analogy, and for the purposes of this essay, let us imagine 4 Classifications of virtual, artificial agents, exemplifying a spectrum from crudest to most sophisticated, and let us label them:

1. puppets 2. robots 3. androids 4. humans (for a 5th, you'll have to use your imaginations, I'm afraid)

Now let us ask ourselves, where is the line drawn, or how is it rendered, between each of these classifications? Just what is the significanse of these delineations?

I propose that a real demarcation exists only between 3 and 4, and here's why. Although all 4 are in essence categorizable under the same classification, there is a distinct paradigm shift when you get to the 4th, that is humans. What defines this shift is the power source, so to speak, which renders each of these beauties functionality.

The first 3 can be said to belong to the same subset; that is, all were literally conceived, assembled, and programmed for execution by the 4th, humans. But the 4th! Now that seems a different order entirely, does it not? Or does it? After a fashion, we do conceive each other.... Such speculation is left for the tireless (yet becoming oh so tiresome) debates between religion and science, spirituality and philosophy, and of course these debates have been propogated for as long as we can remember, with no end in sight circa the dawning of this 21st century.

My point being, all 4 of these categories are essentially spread across a spectrum, from crudest or most simplistic (puppets w/strings) to more sophisticated (robots/no strings attached) to super-advanced degrees of sophistication (androids - I'm just using the word as a label to get my point across) to finally, the most sophisticated meat puppetry programming we are aware of, ourselves.

What really seperates the 4th category (humans) from the first 3 (puppets, robots, androids), is that our programming appears to originate from an unknown source outside of ourselves. Of course, historically we've referred to this "source" vaguely as "God", "Allah", "the Universe", a giant turtle, or even gone so far as to conjecture there is no source, which leads us off into a veritable entangled forest of philosophical semantics with endless variants from gnosticism to existentialism, until we are quite blue in the face.

I propose that due to the fact we have found ourselves as a species emerged on this planet from some unimagineable chrysalis, that we must maintain a certain respect for the unknown. For instance, it would be a shame indeed, would it not, if we were to somehow take it upon ourselves, in our egotistical presumption that we may be the "end all, be all" masters of the universe (an idea I will only stop scoffing at when I see evidence of our having gotten our shit together as a race which can politicize its existence on this singular planet in a self sustaining fashion allowing the perpetual maintenance of the future of life on earth), and decide to, for instance, "eradicate all viruses", if it turned out that these selfsame viruses where in actuality part and parcel of our programming's necessary modification and maintenance protocols?

What I've come to realize is, there is a "grand design" or "higher purpose" of which we are yet currently engaged in the execution of. Fear of the unknown is rapidly transforming into wonder and amazement the more I take in the details about my surrounds and our world history.

I went from thinking viruses (such as those which cause mono to be considered a vile and evil thing) should be hated, to having emerged from the experience of being afflicted with strep throat with a sobering sense of increasing wonderment about the potential overall benefit or even plain necessity of bacteria and viruses to our ongoing evolutionary progress into the ever improving specimens of this regiment of artificial intelligence I am beginning to suspect humanity to be.

The thing to do is get a grip on the perspective of how we interrelate with the unknown. And the only way I can see to manage that, is through faith. It doesn't have to be your standard, orthodox Faith, but I believe we could do the human race and consequently all interdependent life on earth an immense favor by remaining humble enough to admit that we don't know everything, perhaps can't know everything due to the nature of the paradigm we take part in, and by this time in our historical development it is paramount that we elect emissaries for the human race to take it upon ourselves to better serve the potential continuation of our progeny here.

Getting back to the fatal viruses for a moment - perhaps the greatest stumbling block to our advancement as a species are not the base results of fatalities to our fellows, but rather, the very gravity these fatalities impose upon our own perceptions of how "bad" or "good" these lethal viruses may actually be. On an individual, personal basis, an ordinary common cold virus would warrant enough contempt from just one of us to justify its eradication; on the same token, the fatal varieties inspire most of us with an even more fervent desire to achieve their annihilation. But if one stops and thinks for a moment that the greater scheme of things may in fact justify the presence of lethal viruses, one might not be so inclined to pursue their extinction necessarily.

As the picture gets bigger, we must suspend our own convictions. Faith is naught but the grease with which to keep this suspension well oiled. This has been a public service announcement brought to you by a common case of strep throat.