coming of age & unified theory.

**note. i have begun linking some terms. i only use wikipedia out of laziness. don't use it as a substitute to multiple source researched knowledge. don't rely on it for your bread and butter.**

with the advent of the internet's new social utilities such as myspace and facebook, it has become easier to see a generation come of age. all of the individuals that you had shared one of the biggest rites of passage (adolescence) with all show up on a small webpage with a profile picture as small as your thumb. this is interesting and quite unlike what past generations have experienced. culture is moving faster and at the same rate, it is also able to be perceived faster. as technology grows and information is able to be processed faster and to a more wider scope of people, cultural evolution has no choice but to signal over into the fast lane.

cultural evolution includes literature, music, visual arts, the sciences, mathematics etc. all of these subjects are evolving in such a way that soon, they will all become increasingly interdependent with each other. for example, all proto sciences (astrology ---> astronomy, alchemy --->chemistry) move from a unverifiable form of empiricism to a verifiable scientific method. just as these proto sciences move towards verifiability and out of the field of mere speculation, the next step for them is to be melded with their unlike counterparts such as science--->religion.

this may all sound like a bunch of hogwash, but bear with me. cultural evolution isn't totally parallel with biological evolution. human influence has a very large impact on cultural evolution, obviously. cultural evolution is more like a facade or an effort of human beings to think they can control certain aspects of selection (which they cannot.)

ethical conduct and science have always been closely related. however, ever since the discovery of genetic engineering, it has reached a new paradigm. ethics and science are under most circumstances unrelated. but they will continue to grow more dependent on each other. this is why you are beginning to see more and more 'compound' disciplines such as bio/ethics and cognitive ecology enter our curriculum's.

the most important thing we can take from this could possibly be that what we strive for as a collective in a culture, is also the same thing physicists are looking for in a lab in a more natural sense: a unified theory.

still don't get the point? the more we learn as a species and the more knowledge we rack up, the smaller and smaller our subdivisions of filing and using this information become. a perfect parallel to prove this is how our computers have become so much smaller over the past fifty years. it isn't the point that computers themselves have gotten smaller but that it proves that our thoughts and methods have become slender. hugs,kisses and smiles have even become 1's and 0's (binary). :)

Shouldn't our quality of life be improving since everything is becoming smaller? If things are getting smaller, then shouldn't they be more 'out of our way'? This ever evolving trend towards miniaturization can't all just be for nothing...even einstein was trying to crack this nut with his hopes towards a theory of everything!

as i sit here and enjoy seeing my former schoolmates, friends, ex lovers, foes etc. come of age, i also realize that there is a deeper more unseen process beneath it all. and although we might all be 'looking for ourselves' or trying to 'find meaning' in this absurd universe, it's nice to know we're just part of a larger process of evolution.

in the human lifetime we strive to become one with ourselves and unify all of the ideas, thoughts, and emotions we have in our mind into one meaningful 'life' before we pass on. in the lifetime of 'eternity', humans are present throughout generations to strive to become one large unified something before we pass on as a species. isn't it nice to know that we're all in this together? enjoy your ride on the arrow of time..because once you fall off, the next generation just picks up the ball and runs with it towards tomorrow.

when things are right, don't forget to write!

‘Two things fill the mind with ever increasing awe -- the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.’ -Immanuel Kant

Kant had a good point. For the most part, Kant was a theist. It's very difficult to be a theist and still ask all of those 'what if' questions. Still, Kant never discounted the transcendental. No ontological study of life can be complete without the the presence of a psychotic state of mind. Throughout time, the majority of our ethics and morals were rooted from the bible. Let's compare Kant's categorical imperative to the Golden Rule.

"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."


Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.

Those two sentences, although worded differently, mean pretty much the same. One was pulled from the Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals and the other of course from the Bible. The bible quote can be taken quite a bit more loosely than the actual categorical imperative. This isn't the first time that these two likenesses have been compared. Another issue with the bible is that although it is the word of God, it has been translated countless times throughout history. I've seen the Golden Rule worded in so many different permutations. But we're smart enough to read through semantics, right? The essence or heart of an idea should never get lost in translation.

Now onto the very simple question. What is right? Can it be explained outside of any human conceptual framework? (i.e religion or science) Is right a feeling that we get that we put into words OR is it words that we read that get put into feelings?

Innate AND acquired? The only way to find the answer is through WRONG methods of scientific research i.e, test tube babies and rearing children in different controlled moral or immoral environments. Sometimes the only way to find right is to be wrong. You can't know day without having night. I don't think I would ever condone this type of research, but i'm just running with ideas here. If we could find someone who would 'will that it become a universal law' then we've got a game plan. However, very rarely will you find a martyr in the world of science.

Part III

stella was always intrigued by the wind. today, the sheer power of the wind alone was enough to propel the vessel (a moderately sized) to well over forty knots. the wind raced past her face and caressed her hair as she watched, almost mesmerized at how the front of the vessel cut deeply into the water in front of her, creating a foamy and salty spray that occasionally met her lips. a very invigorating feeling overcame her as she inhaled the aroma that could only be described as freedom. stella was a very intelligent, strong willed woman who, like darvis, found herself caught up in a daydream from time to time.

the vessel was a beautifully restored schooner very similar to that of a Bluenose. this vessel in particular had two masts that each towered almost eighty feet over the deck. with a length of about two hundred feet from front to back, this vessel, although not as large scaled as an original Bluenose, was perfectly suited for a long sea journey. the sound the sails made as they collided with the wind reminded stella of the sound the duvets made as her mother shook them out into spring wind after a long winter of usage.

“I still think we should fly our pirate flag high up into the ocean sky!” stella said with a hint of childish wonderment in her voice. darvis, who was now perched half way up the schooner’s mast catching some sun, was still in deep thought on whether or not there was any significance to the encounter he had with the pelican earlier that day. “I already told you, I’m not too comfortable sporting a pirate flag at full mass this far out at sea.” darvis said with a hint of trepidation. “even though the skull and crossbones may not be a relevant symbol toward pirate activities in today’s age, there are probably some native cultures who still sail out here that do not know that.” he added. “you’re no fun.” stella said in reply. “I paid a good chunk of change for that flag back in nova scotia.” With this being said, darvis out of a random act of change, decided to fly the flag. this action came as no surprise to stella as she was used to perplexities of darvis’ mind. After all, he would be spending an incredible amount of time secluded from civilization with this young lady and wanted to make sure his bases were covered not only interpersonally, but also selfishly.

darvis, having been at sea for only a few days now, had already grown a little homesick. Stella had climbed up and joined darvis on the lookout platform on the mast. In all three hundred and sixty degrees of view, all that could be seen was the ocean meeting the horizon. As stella looked over darvis’s shoulder she could make out a few of the words that he was scribbling into his journal.

what I really want
is to connect
with others

shove indifference aside,
sing language with the rest of my species
the pleasant melody
a cacophony of ideas and opinion

lets me know
what they think
inside

I can listen to their feelings
But how can
I touch them?

superfluous and verbose.

your titles are
too long.

you keep on missing garbage night
in your mind

you forget to throw
your
waste
to the curb

you recycle all of your ideas
with different words
everyday,
placed in a different order

express the same meanings. Over and over. Again and again.

you hide
behind syntax n' structure

when you write in maths
you are only writing for yourself

expect no one to understand you

or else

you could
use the words
of a five year old

to express a twenty five
year old idea

so that we could all feel it.

reading you
is like
trying to
keep my head above
water

you know who you are.

it's not you, it's me.

Ough With Your Head! [thing me a thimple thong]

Kinky King Keith
Quiet Queen Quinn

a noble couple.

donned in
kirtles.

a dichotomic duo.

Quinnskittish.

Keith,

Gung ho,
had his royal morning wood
ready to go.

stuck between her teeth
was Dear Keith

flossed her
with what was
what made
a common male
common.

Dinky King Keith leaks with conviction.
Queen Quinn:

“peasant!” she qualled loudly on her knees.

"Quaff medicine."


"i'm Whoughping!"

painful existence or a [blissful] nonexistence? a highly metaphysical (ontological) rant.

painful existence or a [blissful] nonexistence?

death is the only concrete certainty in life. it is the only thing that human willpower cannot transcend or overcome.

you may be thinking to yourself, "can will transcend birth?" -- which is another inevitability in life. since birth is the antithesis to death, I believe them to be one in the same. birth begets death.

if we weren't aware of our own mortality just think about where we'd be today. we'd still have prehensile thumbs. without our 'existential spunk' we couldn't have evolved over 1.5 million years to be able to use our new and improved thumbs to channel surf. our self-awareness and consciousness have evolved in a way as to make sure we didn't become lackadaisical and die off. so using death as a motivator for living is probably the best thing that could have ever happened to our species hence our existential spunk.

in relation to the title of this entry, blissful is just an adjective placed in parentheses to fill in a variable that cannot really have any value assigned to it. only the existing can place value in nonexistence. this isn't a reciprocal form of logic. this is why consciousness is so highly valued. to feel pain is a gift, if seen in the eyes of Being. so don't go fuck up your million years of evolution miracle by thinking your life is worthless. you're a living work of art -- and no, not by god damned intelligent design. you and I both know that intelligent design is just the crazy right winged christian's last ditch effort at trying to save their establishment. nothing worse than losing capital on you're # 1 investments -- human souls.

which bring us to the last point. (i've lost anyone who reads this by now anyway. but i'm still happy.) once you come to what you think is a kick ass hypothesis as to why religion and divination were created, you begin to realize how the con's of religious establishment outweigh the pro's. religion is the biggest mass form of a 'defense mechanism' ever! It rationalizes, denies, represses, idealizes, displaces death by means of faith. "you're gonna die anyway, so follow our rules and lifestyle choices because it makes us feel powerful and in control." - which just translates in the religion fundamentalist's hypothalamus as 'fittest'. i recently had the rare opportunity to see a MRI scan of the human brain and the hypothalamus actually did contain the Freudian id, ego, and superego. riiight... and God is found in the cortex.

use your willpower! it might not be able to circumvent death..but hey, you've come to accept that by now anyway, right? i'd like to think good is innate in humans. but what is good anyway? do animals know good? we are, in essence still animals -- trying and working towards being civilized is just a little ongoing project we like to call jurisprudence. it will happen if we will it. have faith in the clock folks. isn't it interesting to notice how the major imperative of most religions is to aggressively try to downplay our existence on this earth as actual animals? what the hell else are we? oh, i forgot about our divine status as humans. divine status is no different than someone holding the tickets to a sold out concert (the afterlife) that you so desperately want to see! but if you're good and follow the rules - then you're gonna be able to go to that concert! this false sense of 'divine status' is the root of some of our global warming issues also. we get so caught up in being human that we forget that we contribute to ecological systems within the earth.

God is just our mind trying to grow a prehensile meaning of ourselves. do we really need that in order to survive? i'm pretty sure nature will do that for us in time. mystery is the playground of the human mind (also dubbed as curiosity in the feline mind) -- let's not get too serious with it.

i better not get hit by lighting today in RE: to this blog. i'm going to try to avoid misfortune. but i'd rather God get mad at me then a human who claims to be an advocate in His name.

in the words of my good friend thomas waits, "what does it matter, a dream of love or a dream of lies, we're all gonna be in the same place when we die. we're all gonna be just dirt in the ground."

for the life of me.

when your ideas
feel
as distant as the stars

like in that dream
when you just couldn't
seem to print your own name

or hit that nail on the head

you kept missing.

like trying to throw a punch
hit or miss
while we both fell from the sky

This, is something you can’t know. you can feel.



but what you do feel

is always stuck
on the
tip
of
your
tongue

a shoebox full of moments.

dearest,

some words can scream
even though they are left unsaid

the words on a page
can
get loud in your head

the more they are reread.

{

you can fall into someone’s arms
but make sure
you don’t fall hard
into stone appendages

if there isn’t a gargoyle
on each shoulder,

you move in
like they did that night in Normandy

slip in
and disarm.

and fill up another shoebox


with love,


- not war

there is a denial in how cruel we are.

r y an {sleep-walking} says:
[what are we to say] against the man who raped and pillaged their people and land for so long?
r y an {sleep-walking} says:
What are we to say to them? and, how are we to justify his well-being (incarcerated well-being, that is) to those who lost families and loved ones because of his actions?
yesterday came suddenly says:
is it our position to judge?
r y an {sleep-walking} says:
then whose?
yesterday came suddenly says:
nature.
r y an {sleep-walking} says:
but nature presumes death for those who cannot survive? could Saddam's loss of power and eventual capture be analogous to the impala who is captured by the claws of a lion on the Serengeti's?


Let's accept it: even though we are human, our own behavior is beyond our comprehension. The 20th century was host to history's most horrible tragedies. I need not remind anyone of the these.

One of the current events that has deeply disturbed me has been the execution of former dictator Saddam Hussein. The act of capital punishment is in itself a ethical dilemma. It isn't in the fact of the death penalty itself that is the real issue, it has been established time and again that human beings are savage creatures that have occasional epiphanies and pangs of love and compassion.

The real issue is that the human race as a collective is inhumane enough to carry out such acts, yet at this point in history denies the collective or the masses the actual reality of an event. None of the north american news media would show the actual death process of the hanging. The media thrives off of doubt and insecurity while skepticism perpetuates these two things. It is your own responsibility to be informed, no one else can do this for you. Sometimes it hurts to be informed of the truth.


If we are going to hand out capital punishments, then we very damn well do it full-ass rather than half-ass. It is a very cruel act, so let it be known..don't bring passive-aggressiveness into the collective. If it is going to be part of reality, let people see it for what it is. That's how people find compassion -- through the eyes of despair. The media doesn't give people this chance. Newscasts are just laden with fear producing images.

I watched the hanging myself, and i'm still pretty disturbed. No matter what Saddam was guilty of, it still troubles me and hurts me to see this act carried out. He didn't even have to answer to all of his crimes before he was executed! The ultimate question that hovers above all of this is who is responsible for judging people who commit crimes in the face of humanity? Naturally, it does make sense that other humans that have organized a society be responsible for this (their own well being as a group.)

But something still doesn't seem right. Reality is stark, but I am personally learning that if we are faced with it and don't deny what is really there, we can find gems such as compassion, empathy, and a different kind of love. The process of getting there can be garnished with a lot of pain and suffering, but the fruits of carrying out your acts and accepting your decisions and choices without hiding the real fact inside of you - that's the direction that humanity should head in. We are afraid to see who we really are -- and if we refuse to walks towards this, then this will prevent a new enlightenment from occurring.

Is it in our nature?