I was invited to ponder the influence of a certain period of life on my life. I admit that I struggled somewhat in responding. My answer portrayed every act, incident, thought, etc. as a separate island in an archipelago of events. Furthering the geographical metaphor, we would propose that the girth and depth of each landmass represents its influence, its power. Although appealing, this is a spurious conceptualization. Why?
This is important: Everything is connected. Everything. Acts are not islands, nor are humans*. I have found metaphors to be misleading; no simple pictorial, verbal, or quantifiable function is capable of describing the interconnectedness. A continuous function is approximate, but visual Euclidean geometry unsatisfactory. O, the interminable dimensions! Life is an ocean of intermingled particles and organisms, all mixing, twirling, crashing, seeking to control by personal propulsion, but subject to the omnipotent tide and current. Humans ebb and flow with the rest.
Personal development is continuous. It is progressive and digressive. An influential incident, pattern, or period of life on life causes notable progression or retrogression. Change is inevitable; (reverting to the Euclidean plane example) no human being is a constant function. It is also typically gradual. There are, however, principle periods of flux, the most obviously accelerated one being youth (generally portrayed as developmental). This is the time when we process personal experience into personal knowledge. To the very young, everything is surprising. As we age, we ossify; we choose and invest and define ourselves, we settle into a comfortable reality. We come to know the world or we come to think that we know the world or we come to accept a certain interpretation of the world (Clearly, for this exposition, knowledge = belief). Surprise to common phenomena fades. Only the radical manifestations of nature (including human nature) surprise us.
Surprise is a function of ignorance and close-mindedness. The world as it is is ours and it is comprehensible. Unnatural is a misnomer. Unnatural does not exist. Unnatural is a societal allegation. All that occurs and is capable of occurring is natural; it belongs to our world. What else could it be?
Personal progression, for me, is the development of comprehension of the one world and, necessarily, the position, purpose, and nature of one's self in the world. This is a step beyond the above-proposed accumulation of knowledge/belief. It is the development of what is often called wisdom: Precise knowledge and keen discernment of what is and what "what is" means to oneself and the human species. It is that which leads us to a wise state of being which is personally and progressively influential.
*Remember John Dunne: No man is an island, entire of itself... Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saturday, June 06, 2009
For Abdoms
I posted this poem on the wall of a friend. It is reproduced here replete with minimal aesthetic changes. Sooohaaa, diversity (of posts) be the goal of such a one as this.
Another nick-nombre monster to stalk me, hooray,
An elegant ether revolver to anesthetize me, wippee,
A cyclical-rhythm-emitting hollow box to hypnotize me, bash!
An alchemy for satisfaction and companions for collusion, wooooooozah,
Tangential approximations abound and essence evades, so what?
Reject non-sense, embrace similitude, and smile, yaaahaaa,
Reality is around but my sunglasses are tinted, harumph!
But, damn, the vision intrigues and distractions proliferate, yes, yes.
Sup of the soup to discover the formula, whaaa?
The melody of flavors that satisfies YOU, ahahahaha!!
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Non-sense
I was perusing recently an impertinent and thoroughly engaging text called, On Bullshit, by the Princeton professor emeritus of philosophy, Harry Frankfurt, when I stumbled upon an inspiratory detail: Non-sense. This precious construction was noted as the arch-nemesis of one of the monumental philosophers of the 20th century, Ludwig Wittgenstein.
As you, friend-follower, have undoubtedly noticed, I have a penchant for criticizing the human proclivity for illogic. As I have pontificated prior, we are feeble, defective creatures, with curiously disruptive effects known as emotions. Said overly-simply, reason, logic, and scientific representation of reality were the heroes and obsessions of Mr. Wittgenstein. They are also friends of mine.
Either way, I now have a prominent citation from which to defend my arbitrary outpourings on the theme of illogic (or non-sense). Perhaps Wittgenstein's word outplays my own modest term (which I picked up from Christopher Moore) when it comes to precision. Nevertheless, I do not and never have promised to be profoundly honest, realistic, or scientific in my writings.
What? Say you that this is contradictory with my past and pending statements on the all-importance of reasonable thought and the insidious character of illogic? Nay, I say to you. I turn now to Harry Frankfurt and distance myself from L. Wittgenstein. I promise to bullshit you, sir or madam, when I see fit, in the pursuit of perspicuous thoughts or witty turn of phrase (well, according to me).
This does not negate the possibility of scientific analysis or the promotion of brutal logic, nor does it mean that I am lying to you. I will not deliberately, in fact, attempt to misrepresent my thoughts and beliefs, the contents of my brain. I will strive to entertain you and myself with a diversity of writings and scribblings that will include plenty of bullshit, art, pseudoscience, and invention.
Really, I am planting a devious honesty, professing to use an artistic license, and claiming fidelity to the use of a Borgesian approach to keeping your attention (What can I hold you with?). If my method works well, and you examine my words with microscopic care, maybe you will even learn something real about me.
As you, friend-follower, have undoubtedly noticed, I have a penchant for criticizing the human proclivity for illogic. As I have pontificated prior, we are feeble, defective creatures, with curiously disruptive effects known as emotions. Said overly-simply, reason, logic, and scientific representation of reality were the heroes and obsessions of Mr. Wittgenstein. They are also friends of mine.
Either way, I now have a prominent citation from which to defend my arbitrary outpourings on the theme of illogic (or non-sense). Perhaps Wittgenstein's word outplays my own modest term (which I picked up from Christopher Moore) when it comes to precision. Nevertheless, I do not and never have promised to be profoundly honest, realistic, or scientific in my writings.
What? Say you that this is contradictory with my past and pending statements on the all-importance of reasonable thought and the insidious character of illogic? Nay, I say to you. I turn now to Harry Frankfurt and distance myself from L. Wittgenstein. I promise to bullshit you, sir or madam, when I see fit, in the pursuit of perspicuous thoughts or witty turn of phrase (well, according to me).
This does not negate the possibility of scientific analysis or the promotion of brutal logic, nor does it mean that I am lying to you. I will not deliberately, in fact, attempt to misrepresent my thoughts and beliefs, the contents of my brain. I will strive to entertain you and myself with a diversity of writings and scribblings that will include plenty of bullshit, art, pseudoscience, and invention.
Really, I am planting a devious honesty, professing to use an artistic license, and claiming fidelity to the use of a Borgesian approach to keeping your attention (What can I hold you with?). If my method works well, and you examine my words with microscopic care, maybe you will even learn something real about me.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Brad is thinking
- About delineations and spectra and the middle path that appears to be fundamental.
- About when to speak plain truth and when to deceive, obfuscate, dissimulate, or utter falsifications.
- About enigmas, anomalies, the advancement of thought and science and the consequent and simultaneous waning of ignorance, myth, mysticism, magic, and speculation.
- That there is a lever in the natural construction of the human being which leaves him or her open to outside manipulation, which often induces lamentable illogic, including crowd-rule, wishful-thinking, and fallacious belief.
- Whether or not the hegemony and the progression of the hegemony, of what is fashionably considered science will make humans more or less malleable.
- That Brad knows nothing and nurtures fragile beliefs that may or may not have basis in "reality."
- That memory is fickle and that blatant fiction is as worthy a suitor for our consideration and belief as purported fact.
- That there is but one form to pray to.
- That perceptive skepticism trumps blind faith.
- That there must be an equalization.
- About WWSGD (What Would Siddhartha Guatma Do).
- About what deserves: Respect; approbation; damnation; and, outright eradication.
- That there is a coy, precious quality peculiar to the margins of the day and the night which tends to activate "weird" and pure behavior, ambiguous emotions, and tangential ambitions.
- About when to speak plain truth and when to deceive, obfuscate, dissimulate, or utter falsifications.
- About enigmas, anomalies, the advancement of thought and science and the consequent and simultaneous waning of ignorance, myth, mysticism, magic, and speculation.
- That there is a lever in the natural construction of the human being which leaves him or her open to outside manipulation, which often induces lamentable illogic, including crowd-rule, wishful-thinking, and fallacious belief.
- Whether or not the hegemony and the progression of the hegemony, of what is fashionably considered science will make humans more or less malleable.
- That Brad knows nothing and nurtures fragile beliefs that may or may not have basis in "reality."
- That memory is fickle and that blatant fiction is as worthy a suitor for our consideration and belief as purported fact.
- That there is but one form to pray to.
- That perceptive skepticism trumps blind faith.
- That there must be an equalization.
- About WWSGD (What Would Siddhartha Guatma Do).
- About what deserves: Respect; approbation; damnation; and, outright eradication.
- That there is a coy, precious quality peculiar to the margins of the day and the night which tends to activate "weird" and pure behavior, ambiguous emotions, and tangential ambitions.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Unforgivable negligence
It is clear now that my nonchalant negligence and blasé air is all a show. A fragile facade under which I cower and curse and rend my garments. You see, I am not content with my pathetic laziness and procrastination. I would that I were of heroic determination and discipline, capable of withstanding any pernicious temptation and doing constantly that which is right... for me. My culpability weighs me down, friend-followers, I swear it on the grave of my deceased albino rat, Bebo. Would that I could write to you every day! About interesting themes, instead of my dull self deprecations. Indeed, this is a sad day... Or is it? You see, I am back! I am here. Here for YOU. And for ME. We can improve ourselves TOGETHER. Without a doubt, this is a glorious event! Do you not see? I have come crawling back to you, repentant, but more mighty for having overcome my malaise. I return, resplendent and valiant from the sad and noisome pit of shame. Dress yourself in excited preparation for brilliantly innovative or else otherwise mildly interesting entries. They are coming on the wave of cursory meditation. Get ready!
Friday, January 02, 2009
New year's resos
I think perhaps that if people knew they lacked the ability to improve themselves, they would stop living. I am glad we are mutable men, women, and transgenders. Self-improvement is a coruscating carrot. It keeps us going.
In the new year period, self-examination, which should be done constantly, becomes popular. May we look at ourselves and then excise, augment, and alter in hopes of a more happy and confident future. Here are (some) of my resolutions:
*Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more
**Nevertheless, talk more
*Become more masterful at language (Spanish, English)
*Dominate the bass, play music
*laugh and smile and incite laughter and smiles
*Stand up for truths and beliefs
*Discontinue passive-aggressive and dishonest tendencies
*Be more decisive and figure out what it is I want
In the new year period, self-examination, which should be done constantly, becomes popular. May we look at ourselves and then excise, augment, and alter in hopes of a more happy and confident future. Here are (some) of my resolutions:
*Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more
**Nevertheless, talk more
*Become more masterful at language (Spanish, English)
*Dominate the bass, play music
*laugh and smile and incite laughter and smiles
*Stand up for truths and beliefs
*Discontinue passive-aggressive and dishonest tendencies
*Be more decisive and figure out what it is I want
Monday, December 29, 2008
Eep, eep, where are the modern science fiction authors at?
I shudder to think of the path that society is taking. I shudder not out of fear, exactly, for fear is mostly useless, but out of anticipation and curiosity. Yeah. Where are we heading? It seems as if the physical-consumer world is disappearing. Everything is becoming e-commercialized. Purveyors of physical music - CDs and records - are noiselessly falling by the wayside. Booksellers are following suit. Before that, we saw the incremental elimination of the Mom and Pops, the little guys, the stores with care and character. And, of course, the larger-than-life economic recession is not helping the situation.
I take the position that this is stuff we should be concerned about. I simply dislike the one-stop-shopping model, the humongous, impersonal, hideous factory-stores, the mass-produced, unwholesome food, the uniforms, the slogans, the sham, the glitz, and the kitsch. It is blatant and undesirable homogenization and insipidization. It is depressing.
Of course, there is a flip-side. There is always a flip-side. We must recognize that current capitalist processes are making life cheaper and, indeed, better for many if not most people. Stuff is cheap, decent, and outrageously accessible. The Walton model works wonders.
Then again, this throws a lot of uncompetitive retailers and manufacturers out of business. Simply put, they cannot compete with the monster-scale of super-corporations. Small stores' prices are higher, and so they lose.
Of course, poverty, exploitation, and social calamity are all the more egregious and hideous overseas. But...those people are poor. They are "underprivileged." Too bad. We get the cheap goods and, many previously poorer people abroad now earn an income, however meager. We love the $2-tee shirts, the mangoes in December, the dirt-cheap televisions, eye-glasses, DVD players, drugs, automobiles. The price per value ratio for stuff today is truly miraculous. Everyone has a big-screen TVs and uber-cable. The commercials impress themselves painfully on our eardrums, the glare is blinding.
If we want change, it is up to us, the informed and willful consumers. We own our current predicament. We do not have the prescience to recognize cause and effect or the discipline to stop ourselves. Some of us care enough to boycott what we see to be the biggest, meanest retailers.
But even beyond that, may the Earth-mother continue to smile upon us, some of us are ABLE to boycott the big, bad corporate bullies. Yes, yes, it is nice not to have to depend on Walmart's generous social services, bargain-buy drugs, diapers, and TV-dinners.
It is necessary to recognize corporate irresponsibility, and capitalistic excess, but equally important to note consumer preponderance. We pertain to coercive systems, sure, but ultimately we design those systems.
I just wonder, where we are going? What will this world look like in 15, 20, 30 years? We need to examine the science-fiction and dystopian-novel gospels. Maybe we need some prophets. I have ambiguous tremulousness thinking about mankind's future. It is quite exciting, no?
I take the position that this is stuff we should be concerned about. I simply dislike the one-stop-shopping model, the humongous, impersonal, hideous factory-stores, the mass-produced, unwholesome food, the uniforms, the slogans, the sham, the glitz, and the kitsch. It is blatant and undesirable homogenization and insipidization. It is depressing.
Of course, there is a flip-side. There is always a flip-side. We must recognize that current capitalist processes are making life cheaper and, indeed, better for many if not most people. Stuff is cheap, decent, and outrageously accessible. The Walton model works wonders.
Then again, this throws a lot of uncompetitive retailers and manufacturers out of business. Simply put, they cannot compete with the monster-scale of super-corporations. Small stores' prices are higher, and so they lose.
Of course, poverty, exploitation, and social calamity are all the more egregious and hideous overseas. But...those people are poor. They are "underprivileged." Too bad. We get the cheap goods and, many previously poorer people abroad now earn an income, however meager. We love the $2-tee shirts, the mangoes in December, the dirt-cheap televisions, eye-glasses, DVD players, drugs, automobiles. The price per value ratio for stuff today is truly miraculous. Everyone has a big-screen TVs and uber-cable. The commercials impress themselves painfully on our eardrums, the glare is blinding.
If we want change, it is up to us, the informed and willful consumers. We own our current predicament. We do not have the prescience to recognize cause and effect or the discipline to stop ourselves. Some of us care enough to boycott what we see to be the biggest, meanest retailers.
But even beyond that, may the Earth-mother continue to smile upon us, some of us are ABLE to boycott the big, bad corporate bullies. Yes, yes, it is nice not to have to depend on Walmart's generous social services, bargain-buy drugs, diapers, and TV-dinners.
It is necessary to recognize corporate irresponsibility, and capitalistic excess, but equally important to note consumer preponderance. We pertain to coercive systems, sure, but ultimately we design those systems.
I just wonder, where we are going? What will this world look like in 15, 20, 30 years? We need to examine the science-fiction and dystopian-novel gospels. Maybe we need some prophets. I have ambiguous tremulousness thinking about mankind's future. It is quite exciting, no?
Friday, December 19, 2008
Consumerism
Consumerism is my only culture, I have decided. Also, I like it. I abhor shopping, but I like buying. I like consuming with people. I delight in the simple joy of coffee and a blessed book in a pleasant, artful cafe. I treasure music in all forms. Live music might be the most exhilarating thing I am cognizant of. I also appreciate movie watching in many realms and contexts. Salty cheese and warm, baked bread make me giggle and sigh contentedly, in a tipsy manner. I am an unsophisticated, indiscriminate gourmand. Add warm red wine, and I lose it. I like ornamentation. Hats, non-fashionable clothing, wall-posters, functional and beautiful objects. I like tastes, preferences, discriminatory consumerism. I like being judged and interacted with. I, I, I. I like individualism and selfishness. Naturally, I depend on you, my friend-followers, family, and strangers. All of you others, without whom I would be nothing. I like things the way they are. I would not have it any other way. Of course, it helps to be rich.Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Expedition
Once upon a time, some sad SOB's come up with the idea to go rock-climbing in December in Northern Pennsylvania. Destination: Mt. Hancock bouldering on lake Nockamixon.
Hardy mofos drive for a while, listen to mediocre music, get lost near climbing-grounds. Decision is made to ask for assistance at conveniently-close state-park office. Secretarial staff give climbers map and direction. But, wait, alas! Also informs climbers that climbable rocks are within legally-limited hunting grounds and that hunting season is extant.
Indomitable climbers are not cowed, but accept orange plastic vests with sincere thank-yous. Climbers push-on to parking lot, hike a score of minutes, find acceptable rocks. Actually, awesome rocks!
Climbers settle contently at foot of happy rocks, sip thermos-coffee, prepare for action. Father of climber calls, notifies ignorant climbers of impending weather - foul, hurty weather.
Immediate climatological response: snow bombs and hail. Snow concoctions fall light and fluffy, but so humongous that a single one, upon impact, explodes and showers on unsuspecting rock-climbers' eyes - temporary blinding occurs. Hail builds up on ledges and in cracks, making foot-holds suicidally slippery (20ft up, without rope) and hand-holds intolerably cold. Shoes must be worn without socks, hence feet rapidly deteriorate to the point of no-feeling. Hands crack and bleed and cry.
Stoic climbers climb on, as best they can. Wet leaves and rock become ice-covered, extraordinarily precarious. Climbers wander and explore, climb some, find sweet cave-likenesses and graffiti (Steve 1989!), suffer in silence like cold-tempered Scandinavians. Eventually the climbers decide that the fun is expired. They return home, satiated.
Hardy mofos drive for a while, listen to mediocre music, get lost near climbing-grounds. Decision is made to ask for assistance at conveniently-close state-park office. Secretarial staff give climbers map and direction. But, wait, alas! Also informs climbers that climbable rocks are within legally-limited hunting grounds and that hunting season is extant.
Indomitable climbers are not cowed, but accept orange plastic vests with sincere thank-yous. Climbers push-on to parking lot, hike a score of minutes, find acceptable rocks. Actually, awesome rocks!
Climbers settle contently at foot of happy rocks, sip thermos-coffee, prepare for action. Father of climber calls, notifies ignorant climbers of impending weather - foul, hurty weather.
Immediate climatological response: snow bombs and hail. Snow concoctions fall light and fluffy, but so humongous that a single one, upon impact, explodes and showers on unsuspecting rock-climbers' eyes - temporary blinding occurs. Hail builds up on ledges and in cracks, making foot-holds suicidally slippery (20ft up, without rope) and hand-holds intolerably cold. Shoes must be worn without socks, hence feet rapidly deteriorate to the point of no-feeling. Hands crack and bleed and cry.
Stoic climbers climb on, as best they can. Wet leaves and rock become ice-covered, extraordinarily precarious. Climbers wander and explore, climb some, find sweet cave-likenesses and graffiti (Steve 1989!), suffer in silence like cold-tempered Scandinavians. Eventually the climbers decide that the fun is expired. They return home, satiated.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Vienen miles más domingos
Anoche, una película sobre madres y muertes me hizo llorar. Gotas escaparon de los pozos de ojos y cayeron...
Por desgracia, nos hemos puestos en una sesión de pérdida. Estupidez y codicia de los pocos causan el dolor y sufrimiento de los demás...
Solipsismo: "Yo sé que soy yo, porque siempre estoy aquí y siempre tú te vas..."
Racionalismo: "Lo hago porque funciona..."
Ten cuidado con quien te pones fe...
¿Como fue tu cara antes de que nacieron tus padres?
Si me ataras en cuerdas de queso y me pusieras en una jaula de pan debajo de un sol benigno, yo sería contento...
Había una vez, el mundo fue una bala de nevara y hielo. Ningunos seres poblaron la superficie ni los aires. Las aguas tuvieron una plétora...
Cucurrucucú...
Aún mundos desocupados tienen aspirantes a reyes...
Todo el mundo tiene un llanto en su bolsillo de detrás. El pesar y la alegría conviven en todas vidas...
Si no tuviéramos cerebros, todavía tendríamos problemas...
Somos máquinas solamente si decidimos ser máquinas. Hay que reconocer el conocimiento único y la potencia orgánica...
Cuando computadora llega a ser más listo que creador somos muertos. Mientras nuestras creaciones están manufacturados con los limites del humano y en su imagen está bien...
Cuando yo vea el espejo vació, seré iluminado...
Con dos palios, dos bongos, el metrónomo del reloj rojo, mano y mente, cualquier ser tiene el poder preciso de la percusión ilimitada...
PAZ Y PALOMAS…
Por desgracia, nos hemos puestos en una sesión de pérdida. Estupidez y codicia de los pocos causan el dolor y sufrimiento de los demás...
Solipsismo: "Yo sé que soy yo, porque siempre estoy aquí y siempre tú te vas..."
Racionalismo: "Lo hago porque funciona..."
Ten cuidado con quien te pones fe...
¿Como fue tu cara antes de que nacieron tus padres?
Si me ataras en cuerdas de queso y me pusieras en una jaula de pan debajo de un sol benigno, yo sería contento...
Había una vez, el mundo fue una bala de nevara y hielo. Ningunos seres poblaron la superficie ni los aires. Las aguas tuvieron una plétora...
Cucurrucucú...
Aún mundos desocupados tienen aspirantes a reyes...
Todo el mundo tiene un llanto en su bolsillo de detrás. El pesar y la alegría conviven en todas vidas...
Si no tuviéramos cerebros, todavía tendríamos problemas...
Somos máquinas solamente si decidimos ser máquinas. Hay que reconocer el conocimiento único y la potencia orgánica...
Cuando computadora llega a ser más listo que creador somos muertos. Mientras nuestras creaciones están manufacturados con los limites del humano y en su imagen está bien...
Cuando yo vea el espejo vació, seré iluminado...
Con dos palios, dos bongos, el metrónomo del reloj rojo, mano y mente, cualquier ser tiene el poder preciso de la percusión ilimitada...
PAZ Y PALOMAS…
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