Transcendence, or strictly speaking the possibility of it, is what sets humankind apart from all other species, and it is what ultimately determines our essential equality to one another.
I'm defining transcendence as the exercise of the ability to alter one's situation by changing the basic facts of the situation. I believe all humans potentially have this ability. Many never use it. Of those who do, some do it entirely on their own, and some require a lot of help, like Helen Keller. But in all cases, the possibility of rewriting one's own future exists.
This is why we have no ability to foresee or declare the end of 'the world', meaning our species. Though we may seem doomed to self-extinction, the game cannot be called until it is played out.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Monday, September 11, 2017
Introduction to Infotoxicology
I propose that Infotoxicology is a new and necessary science.
I think the word 'infotoxin' was coined by Jeff Phillips, in an article published in Adbusters sometime in the 1980s. It may have appeared earlier but I do not know of it.
The best way to explain what it is, is to lay out the axioms of this new science. This post will concern mostly those axioms - unprovable assertions which must be accepted as basis for all that follows. I have identified four such assertions. Subsequent posts will embark on a discussion of the elements of the new science.
The axioms:
Reliable information is necessary for the continuance of life, and for maintenance of its quality. We constantly interact with the world in our daily lives, and thus must deal with that which we have neither created nor can control. The more reliable is our understanding of it, the better are our chances of not only surviving it, but improving our situation in it. A corollary to this is that life which can reliably better its circumstances is a life worth living.
Infotoxin in the mind is analogous to poison in the body. This analogy holds in several important ways. First, the effects are always deleterious. The ill effects of misguided understanding can range from near-negligible inceonvenience to death, including all possible ills between the two. Second, infotoxin very often persists, just as poison becomes lodged in the body's various hidey-holes. The spleen, the liver, the pancreas, pockets of the colon and other areas can retain poisons after our awareness of ingesting them has passed. From these places, although sequestered and controlled by the body's defenses, they can continue to cause trouble. In the same way, unexamined beliefs can affect our thinking processes and our reactions to the world long after their 'ingestion'. Thirdly, as with poisons, the act of purging them can be violently uncomfortable, more so than maintaining them in sequestration. Fourthly, such purging is very much desirable in spite of this.
Everyone lies to everyone. Including of course themselves. Untruth and misunderstanding is a universal fact of life, and must be accepted as such even as we undertake to defend ourselves from its worst effects.
The human being of average intelligence is capable of significantly improving quality of life, by learning to distinguish truth from untruth as much as possible. Being part of the world we live in, our understanding of it will never be perfect. But here I use the word 'average' to indicate my belief that at least half of living humans, and probably much more, are sufficiently intelligent to improve their ability to detect untruth with a little study. A corollary to this is that the subject does indeed require study, just as we need practice to learn how to swim. Once certain defenses are put in place by learning the techniques I intend to propose, their operation becomes more or less automatic, and we are less easily fooled.
Soon, within a week I think, I will follow this post with an attempt to classify the various types of infotoxin, both natural and manmade.
I think the word 'infotoxin' was coined by Jeff Phillips, in an article published in Adbusters sometime in the 1980s. It may have appeared earlier but I do not know of it.
The best way to explain what it is, is to lay out the axioms of this new science. This post will concern mostly those axioms - unprovable assertions which must be accepted as basis for all that follows. I have identified four such assertions. Subsequent posts will embark on a discussion of the elements of the new science.
The axioms:
Reliable information is necessary for the continuance of life, and for maintenance of its quality. We constantly interact with the world in our daily lives, and thus must deal with that which we have neither created nor can control. The more reliable is our understanding of it, the better are our chances of not only surviving it, but improving our situation in it. A corollary to this is that life which can reliably better its circumstances is a life worth living.
Infotoxin in the mind is analogous to poison in the body. This analogy holds in several important ways. First, the effects are always deleterious. The ill effects of misguided understanding can range from near-negligible inceonvenience to death, including all possible ills between the two. Second, infotoxin very often persists, just as poison becomes lodged in the body's various hidey-holes. The spleen, the liver, the pancreas, pockets of the colon and other areas can retain poisons after our awareness of ingesting them has passed. From these places, although sequestered and controlled by the body's defenses, they can continue to cause trouble. In the same way, unexamined beliefs can affect our thinking processes and our reactions to the world long after their 'ingestion'. Thirdly, as with poisons, the act of purging them can be violently uncomfortable, more so than maintaining them in sequestration. Fourthly, such purging is very much desirable in spite of this.
Everyone lies to everyone. Including of course themselves. Untruth and misunderstanding is a universal fact of life, and must be accepted as such even as we undertake to defend ourselves from its worst effects.
The human being of average intelligence is capable of significantly improving quality of life, by learning to distinguish truth from untruth as much as possible. Being part of the world we live in, our understanding of it will never be perfect. But here I use the word 'average' to indicate my belief that at least half of living humans, and probably much more, are sufficiently intelligent to improve their ability to detect untruth with a little study. A corollary to this is that the subject does indeed require study, just as we need practice to learn how to swim. Once certain defenses are put in place by learning the techniques I intend to propose, their operation becomes more or less automatic, and we are less easily fooled.
Soon, within a week I think, I will follow this post with an attempt to classify the various types of infotoxin, both natural and manmade.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
What I Know About 9/11/01
I don't know very much, really, but what I know is enough to convince me that the official history is a pack of lies. This is not surprising, as many such histories fall into this catregory, for instance, the building of the Panama Canal, the death of Warren G. Harding, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, to name just a few. We in the US are raised on a diet of such lies to give us the impression that we live in an exceptional, god-blessed state, and nothing we do is ever really wrong. This of course is the biggest lie of all.
Our 'President' at the time had lost the election, but was unconstitutionally declared President anyway by the Supreme Court. I gave up on democracy in the US in January of 2000. I gave up on the so-called free press not long after that. For years, thanks to Reagan's deregulation, the mainstream press had been undergoing consolidation into fewer and fewer hands, nearly all of them very rich and paranoid. Fearmongering and sensationalism had completely replaced objective analysis before the end of the 80s. To this day, this disappoints me severely, as I had grown up in one of those rare eras when the news was relevant and interesting.
But it was Jimmy Carter who started it all.
It seems clear that 2 airplanes hit the 2 towers of the World Trade Center. Everything else is questionable. Whatever hit the Pentagon was not an airplane. The explanation that the wings were sheared off is ridiculous, since the wings are the heaviest part of a commercial jet. I don't know what happened to the airplane that was supposed to be, but there was a crash of some kind in remote West Virginia that was very little spoken of later.
The story of the plane over Pennsylvania was mostly fabricated. That plane was destroyed in the air, most likely by US military jets, as that is the only way the debris could be spread over so many miles. It is possible that the passengers did in fact retake the plane from the hijackers, and this sealed their fate.
I heard an 'architectural expert' say on TV on 9/11 that the destruction of the towers was 'a classic case of accelerated building collapse'. Sine this was something that had never happened before, I was immediately suspicious about this 'classic case'. Everything I have learned since confirms that it is quite impossible for burning jet fuel on the upper stories to initiate such a collapse. The only possibility is electronically controlled demolition, involving a great many precisely placed explosive charges. How or when these were installed I have no idea. The sudden collapse of WTC 7, hours later, was similar. Nothing the hijackers did could have caused any of that.
At the Camp David Peace Talks, Jimmy Carter performed the miracle of getting Israel and Saudi Arabia on the same agenda. Israel could continue to blackmail our government, influence all of its elections down to the local level, and receive the lion's share of foreign aid, especially military aid. Saudi Arabia was assured of a large but lesser military budget, and encouraged to build schools throughout Afghanistan, Pakistan, and eventually many other places, to train young fanatics, and spread their intolerant and violent version of Islam all over the world. Up into the term of George W. Bush, many of their texts were published by a press in Oklahoma City. These 'textbooks' typically preached intolerance towards moderate Muslims (I believe Jews were never mentioned), and familiarized their students with modern weapons. The mujaheddin who drove the Russian-sponsored secular government out of Afghanistan were students of these schools. They later became the Taliban.
Osama bin Laden worked for the CIA, or at least with them, and was at one point given a tour of US military bases while wearing the name Tim Osman. After the 'success' in Afghanistan, he made himself useful in Azerbaijan and other places, sowing chaos and fear on the fringes of the Russian Empire with American weapons and Saudi-trained fanatics.
There is a corporation called the Carlyle Group, and other than 'run the world' it's not very clear what they do. At the time of 9/11, its board of directors included Dick Cheney, Watergate criminal Frank Carlucci, and several members of the bin Laden family. These bin Ladens were flown from the US to Saudi Arabia shortly after the event, when commercial planes were not allowed to fly. Noone has ever questioned them about these events.
In fact, evidence of what happened was destroyed as much as possible, as soon as possible. barges full of debris from the site of the disaster dumped their cargoes in the middle of the ocean. Israelis who were caught on tape dancing in celebration as they watched the towers fall were quickly deported to Israel with no questions asked. The same with those who were driving a van filled with explosives across the Brooklyn Bridge.
A perfect storm of propaganda was our fare from that day on, so coordinated that it had obviously been planned for some time previously. There was a huge purge of college professors in the weeks following, accounting for more than a thousand I think; not just 'left-wing' professors, but any who taught that skepticism has to be the basis of objectivity. Our educational system not long ago was the envy of the civilized world. It is now a stock-tank for corporations.
The Taliban, faced with the task of running a real country, quickly became practical (though without losing any of their fundamentalism). They agreed to the US proposal of running a natural gas pipeline through their country, but they wanted to be paid fair market value for it. At this point they became an enemy of the US. After 9/11, when Osama supposedly went into hiding there, this was touted as the reason to invade that country. It was never a good reason. The CIA, Interpol and any number of other police organizations could have gone after him. But the idea that such a criminal should be brought to justice is an idea our 'leaders' wanted dismantled. We quickly started a war in Afghanistan, and won it within a few hours, if not minutes. The 'war' that has gone on since is no war, but a brutal and hostile occupation. The Taliban, among other sins, had nearly eradicated the cultivation of opium poppies in that country. Under US occupation, there have been record surpluses almost every year, and a huge increase in addiction in Russian territories and the other '-Stans'. And the CIA has stopped asking for more money.
The war in Afghanistan, and later those in Iraq, Libya and Yemen (possibly Somalia should be included, too) are not 'failures'. "Mission Accomplished" was a true statement. All followed the pattern of Afghanistan; a very quick war to depose the existing government, followed by an occupation mischaracterised as war. Terrorized populations, and puppet governments unable to assert any control over their country's resources, is exactly what was wanted, and it has been achieved. In Syria, Iran and Venezuela, the mission is not yet accomplished, thank goodness. But the effort is ongoing, and was not interrupted at all by the 2 terms of an intelligent, Democratic, Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning President. The US has killed an estimated 4 million people in these 'wars' since 9/11. Needless to say, most were innocent.
There's a lot more, but I'm tired of writing for now. let this stand as my contribution to history on the 16th anniversary of the world's largest and most successful false-flag operation.
Our 'President' at the time had lost the election, but was unconstitutionally declared President anyway by the Supreme Court. I gave up on democracy in the US in January of 2000. I gave up on the so-called free press not long after that. For years, thanks to Reagan's deregulation, the mainstream press had been undergoing consolidation into fewer and fewer hands, nearly all of them very rich and paranoid. Fearmongering and sensationalism had completely replaced objective analysis before the end of the 80s. To this day, this disappoints me severely, as I had grown up in one of those rare eras when the news was relevant and interesting.
But it was Jimmy Carter who started it all.
It seems clear that 2 airplanes hit the 2 towers of the World Trade Center. Everything else is questionable. Whatever hit the Pentagon was not an airplane. The explanation that the wings were sheared off is ridiculous, since the wings are the heaviest part of a commercial jet. I don't know what happened to the airplane that was supposed to be, but there was a crash of some kind in remote West Virginia that was very little spoken of later.
The story of the plane over Pennsylvania was mostly fabricated. That plane was destroyed in the air, most likely by US military jets, as that is the only way the debris could be spread over so many miles. It is possible that the passengers did in fact retake the plane from the hijackers, and this sealed their fate.
I heard an 'architectural expert' say on TV on 9/11 that the destruction of the towers was 'a classic case of accelerated building collapse'. Sine this was something that had never happened before, I was immediately suspicious about this 'classic case'. Everything I have learned since confirms that it is quite impossible for burning jet fuel on the upper stories to initiate such a collapse. The only possibility is electronically controlled demolition, involving a great many precisely placed explosive charges. How or when these were installed I have no idea. The sudden collapse of WTC 7, hours later, was similar. Nothing the hijackers did could have caused any of that.
At the Camp David Peace Talks, Jimmy Carter performed the miracle of getting Israel and Saudi Arabia on the same agenda. Israel could continue to blackmail our government, influence all of its elections down to the local level, and receive the lion's share of foreign aid, especially military aid. Saudi Arabia was assured of a large but lesser military budget, and encouraged to build schools throughout Afghanistan, Pakistan, and eventually many other places, to train young fanatics, and spread their intolerant and violent version of Islam all over the world. Up into the term of George W. Bush, many of their texts were published by a press in Oklahoma City. These 'textbooks' typically preached intolerance towards moderate Muslims (I believe Jews were never mentioned), and familiarized their students with modern weapons. The mujaheddin who drove the Russian-sponsored secular government out of Afghanistan were students of these schools. They later became the Taliban.
Osama bin Laden worked for the CIA, or at least with them, and was at one point given a tour of US military bases while wearing the name Tim Osman. After the 'success' in Afghanistan, he made himself useful in Azerbaijan and other places, sowing chaos and fear on the fringes of the Russian Empire with American weapons and Saudi-trained fanatics.
There is a corporation called the Carlyle Group, and other than 'run the world' it's not very clear what they do. At the time of 9/11, its board of directors included Dick Cheney, Watergate criminal Frank Carlucci, and several members of the bin Laden family. These bin Ladens were flown from the US to Saudi Arabia shortly after the event, when commercial planes were not allowed to fly. Noone has ever questioned them about these events.
In fact, evidence of what happened was destroyed as much as possible, as soon as possible. barges full of debris from the site of the disaster dumped their cargoes in the middle of the ocean. Israelis who were caught on tape dancing in celebration as they watched the towers fall were quickly deported to Israel with no questions asked. The same with those who were driving a van filled with explosives across the Brooklyn Bridge.
A perfect storm of propaganda was our fare from that day on, so coordinated that it had obviously been planned for some time previously. There was a huge purge of college professors in the weeks following, accounting for more than a thousand I think; not just 'left-wing' professors, but any who taught that skepticism has to be the basis of objectivity. Our educational system not long ago was the envy of the civilized world. It is now a stock-tank for corporations.
The Taliban, faced with the task of running a real country, quickly became practical (though without losing any of their fundamentalism). They agreed to the US proposal of running a natural gas pipeline through their country, but they wanted to be paid fair market value for it. At this point they became an enemy of the US. After 9/11, when Osama supposedly went into hiding there, this was touted as the reason to invade that country. It was never a good reason. The CIA, Interpol and any number of other police organizations could have gone after him. But the idea that such a criminal should be brought to justice is an idea our 'leaders' wanted dismantled. We quickly started a war in Afghanistan, and won it within a few hours, if not minutes. The 'war' that has gone on since is no war, but a brutal and hostile occupation. The Taliban, among other sins, had nearly eradicated the cultivation of opium poppies in that country. Under US occupation, there have been record surpluses almost every year, and a huge increase in addiction in Russian territories and the other '-Stans'. And the CIA has stopped asking for more money.
The war in Afghanistan, and later those in Iraq, Libya and Yemen (possibly Somalia should be included, too) are not 'failures'. "Mission Accomplished" was a true statement. All followed the pattern of Afghanistan; a very quick war to depose the existing government, followed by an occupation mischaracterised as war. Terrorized populations, and puppet governments unable to assert any control over their country's resources, is exactly what was wanted, and it has been achieved. In Syria, Iran and Venezuela, the mission is not yet accomplished, thank goodness. But the effort is ongoing, and was not interrupted at all by the 2 terms of an intelligent, Democratic, Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning President. The US has killed an estimated 4 million people in these 'wars' since 9/11. Needless to say, most were innocent.
There's a lot more, but I'm tired of writing for now. let this stand as my contribution to history on the 16th anniversary of the world's largest and most successful false-flag operation.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Enemies
The day I realized that I have no enemies in this world was in retrospect one of the most important days of my life.
It wasn't that long ago, sometime in the summer of 2007. It came as a surprise to me that I hadn't realized it before. I had long ago understood, for instance, that those we imagine to be our enemies are usually not that important to us; those who act to undermine us are not criminals or terrorists but people we live and work with daily, the ones who envy us our jobs, our things, our money, our looks, our sexual status. And that's just for white people, in this country. Those counted as 'minorities' will have a host of other local forces arbitrarily marshalled against them. Most, of course, white and otherwise, will do whatever is in their power to undermine those local forces in turn. We constantly suffer at one another's hands; but quite rarely at the hands of those popularly deemed to be the 'enemy'. This is quite notable at such places as the Pentagon, where people use the most part of their energy and effort to work against each other rather than the declared Enemy, just like in any workplace.
When I suddenly became aware that all human beings are stupid (and though some are smart, they are always still stupid about some things), it became impossible to hate anymore. Even people who do things that are appallingly stupid, I see that their stupidity is just a tendency that I find also in myself, magnified. I used to have fits of rage, irrational anger. Sometimes I would smash things. No longer; there doesn't seem to be any point in getting that angry.
What still makes me angry is that the whole human race, with all its marvelous potential, has been made ill by some unknown force, and is very likely to destroy itself without realizing any of this potential. I believe I can assume that no human being has made any legally binding agreement with this unknown force, in spite of all the stories and legends about deals with the devil, etcetera. Certainly no agreement was made to which I was a party! So I'm mad, and I express anger at our stupidity frequently.
But I can no longer feel hatred of anyone, even monster mass-murderers like Hitler, Stalin and Cheney. They are ill in the extreme, probably incurable, and thus pathetic. Maybe all of us are incurable, I don't know. But some are less damaged than others, that is clear.
By the way, Alice Miller has many valuable insights into what creates such human monsters, and I'll be touching on her works a good deal in the future; I think they're among the most important modern books.
Soon I'll write on infotoxin, and how even nature can mislead us, in addition to all the ways we devise to mislead one another. For now, just imagine yourself on a ship in a calm sea on a bright day. Can you always tell the sky from the sea?
Neither can anyone else. We are truly incapable of judging one another with accuracy, yet we have to use such judgements to survive. There are many, many, many dangerous people. Yet not one is an enemy!
Makayla, you're being brought up in a more civilized neighborhood than most USAns, and hopefully you'll come to this conclusion on your own. I realize that just telling you these things won't make you 'see' them. Most people, especially 'my fellow Americans' post-9/11, would read this and merely scoff. Of course there's enemies, they think. Otherwise what are we spending all this money on?
Ah well, I'll repeat what I printed on the Rampant Egos' album Centerpeace: Though your fate be war, may your heart know peace. In spite of everything, walk in beauty, my love. Walk in beauty.
It wasn't that long ago, sometime in the summer of 2007. It came as a surprise to me that I hadn't realized it before. I had long ago understood, for instance, that those we imagine to be our enemies are usually not that important to us; those who act to undermine us are not criminals or terrorists but people we live and work with daily, the ones who envy us our jobs, our things, our money, our looks, our sexual status. And that's just for white people, in this country. Those counted as 'minorities' will have a host of other local forces arbitrarily marshalled against them. Most, of course, white and otherwise, will do whatever is in their power to undermine those local forces in turn. We constantly suffer at one another's hands; but quite rarely at the hands of those popularly deemed to be the 'enemy'. This is quite notable at such places as the Pentagon, where people use the most part of their energy and effort to work against each other rather than the declared Enemy, just like in any workplace.
When I suddenly became aware that all human beings are stupid (and though some are smart, they are always still stupid about some things), it became impossible to hate anymore. Even people who do things that are appallingly stupid, I see that their stupidity is just a tendency that I find also in myself, magnified. I used to have fits of rage, irrational anger. Sometimes I would smash things. No longer; there doesn't seem to be any point in getting that angry.
What still makes me angry is that the whole human race, with all its marvelous potential, has been made ill by some unknown force, and is very likely to destroy itself without realizing any of this potential. I believe I can assume that no human being has made any legally binding agreement with this unknown force, in spite of all the stories and legends about deals with the devil, etcetera. Certainly no agreement was made to which I was a party! So I'm mad, and I express anger at our stupidity frequently.
But I can no longer feel hatred of anyone, even monster mass-murderers like Hitler, Stalin and Cheney. They are ill in the extreme, probably incurable, and thus pathetic. Maybe all of us are incurable, I don't know. But some are less damaged than others, that is clear.
By the way, Alice Miller has many valuable insights into what creates such human monsters, and I'll be touching on her works a good deal in the future; I think they're among the most important modern books.
Soon I'll write on infotoxin, and how even nature can mislead us, in addition to all the ways we devise to mislead one another. For now, just imagine yourself on a ship in a calm sea on a bright day. Can you always tell the sky from the sea?
Neither can anyone else. We are truly incapable of judging one another with accuracy, yet we have to use such judgements to survive. There are many, many, many dangerous people. Yet not one is an enemy!
Makayla, you're being brought up in a more civilized neighborhood than most USAns, and hopefully you'll come to this conclusion on your own. I realize that just telling you these things won't make you 'see' them. Most people, especially 'my fellow Americans' post-9/11, would read this and merely scoff. Of course there's enemies, they think. Otherwise what are we spending all this money on?
Ah well, I'll repeat what I printed on the Rampant Egos' album Centerpeace: Though your fate be war, may your heart know peace. In spite of everything, walk in beauty, my love. Walk in beauty.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Tweak of Nature
The human race is collectively and universally suffering from an undiagnosed disease.
No human is exempt from it; not the loftiest guru nor the remotest aborigine. (At least that is my belief. I have often hoped someone would prove me wrong on this.)
There are many symptoms that we all share.
We talk to ourselves constantly, mostly about ourselves, for no good reason. We can't stop talking to ourselves if we try! There are techniques to allow the mind to quiet itself, so we can access the innate knowledge of our world that should be natural to us, but they bring only incremental victories. One full second of silence is a big achievement!
We behave as if we are alien to our own planet. This is reflected in many ways, not the least of which is our casual wastefulness and destructiveness. Though we think we are the 'highest' of anmals, we miss signals that the animals never miss. Some years ago, there was an avalanche that wiped out an Indian village in the high Himalayas. A number of the villagers were saved because they were chasing cows, who knew to run away from the village! When the Great Tsunami hit, all the animals that could were seeking higher ground. What were the humans doing? Talking to themselves about themselves.
With this continuous skull-chatter we falsify our own memories. Our conscious memories do not match those of the body. They never do, as far as I know. And as far as I know, with all other conscious animals, conscious memories, body memory and even racial memory (what we call 'instinct') are never in conflict or contradiction.
It is said that we use only 10 percent of our brains. Why? What holds back the other 90 percent from being used? What would it do if we could use it? And why aren't most of you mad about this?
Because we are universally ill, we have no idea what 'human nature' actually is, but speak of it as if it were a curse on us.
It could be a disease, or more like a syndrome or mental illness, or possibly even a parasite - that's Carlos Castaneda's theory, and I find it pretty compelling. It doesn't convince me, though; nothing has convinced me yet. I do appreciate it when I find a thinker who at least understands that we're in serious trouble here. Most of us are in denial, and believe absurdly that we are the 'Crown of Creation', though we're always much more devoted to destroying, or that we are subject to the will of a vast ethereal humanoid entity caled 'God' or 'Bog' who actually gives a damn about our miniscule petty rivalries, and interferes with them, though he's supposed to have created the entire universe in which we are less than a speck.
There is much more to say here, and I'll be referring to all these notions more in the future. To close, I want you to reflect on that speck, and how it is the only speck in that incomprehensible vastness that we know to contain any life. We must know that life is as rare as anything anywhere, and the energies that mold it and drive it are the most complex and sophisticated known. Our world is proof of extropy, not entropy. Yet so many of us constantly speak fearfully of overpopulation, and secretly wish for flood or fire to purge the earth of all those we consider inferior to ourselves....
Wittgenstein, with his brilliant opening, "The world is the only condition", summed up in one unerring blow why most philosophy is nonsense. I am willing to go further and say that we humans are in no condition to judge the world. Any philosophy that ignores or obscures the fact that we are unnecessarily engineering our own imminent extinction is essentially worthless.
No human is exempt from it; not the loftiest guru nor the remotest aborigine. (At least that is my belief. I have often hoped someone would prove me wrong on this.)
There are many symptoms that we all share.
We talk to ourselves constantly, mostly about ourselves, for no good reason. We can't stop talking to ourselves if we try! There are techniques to allow the mind to quiet itself, so we can access the innate knowledge of our world that should be natural to us, but they bring only incremental victories. One full second of silence is a big achievement!
We behave as if we are alien to our own planet. This is reflected in many ways, not the least of which is our casual wastefulness and destructiveness. Though we think we are the 'highest' of anmals, we miss signals that the animals never miss. Some years ago, there was an avalanche that wiped out an Indian village in the high Himalayas. A number of the villagers were saved because they were chasing cows, who knew to run away from the village! When the Great Tsunami hit, all the animals that could were seeking higher ground. What were the humans doing? Talking to themselves about themselves.
With this continuous skull-chatter we falsify our own memories. Our conscious memories do not match those of the body. They never do, as far as I know. And as far as I know, with all other conscious animals, conscious memories, body memory and even racial memory (what we call 'instinct') are never in conflict or contradiction.
It is said that we use only 10 percent of our brains. Why? What holds back the other 90 percent from being used? What would it do if we could use it? And why aren't most of you mad about this?
Because we are universally ill, we have no idea what 'human nature' actually is, but speak of it as if it were a curse on us.
It could be a disease, or more like a syndrome or mental illness, or possibly even a parasite - that's Carlos Castaneda's theory, and I find it pretty compelling. It doesn't convince me, though; nothing has convinced me yet. I do appreciate it when I find a thinker who at least understands that we're in serious trouble here. Most of us are in denial, and believe absurdly that we are the 'Crown of Creation', though we're always much more devoted to destroying, or that we are subject to the will of a vast ethereal humanoid entity caled 'God' or 'Bog' who actually gives a damn about our miniscule petty rivalries, and interferes with them, though he's supposed to have created the entire universe in which we are less than a speck.
There is much more to say here, and I'll be referring to all these notions more in the future. To close, I want you to reflect on that speck, and how it is the only speck in that incomprehensible vastness that we know to contain any life. We must know that life is as rare as anything anywhere, and the energies that mold it and drive it are the most complex and sophisticated known. Our world is proof of extropy, not entropy. Yet so many of us constantly speak fearfully of overpopulation, and secretly wish for flood or fire to purge the earth of all those we consider inferior to ourselves....
Wittgenstein, with his brilliant opening, "The world is the only condition", summed up in one unerring blow why most philosophy is nonsense. I am willing to go further and say that we humans are in no condition to judge the world. Any philosophy that ignores or obscures the fact that we are unnecessarily engineering our own imminent extinction is essentially worthless.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
The Abandoned Mall in the Middle of Nowhere
The new picture at the top of this page is my own, taken at Budaghers, New Mexico recently. Budaghers is a strange place. Here's Wikipedia's take on it:
"Budaghers was a thriving trading post in the 1950s that was started by Joseph and Sally Budagher, who personally knew and traded with the Pueblo Indians in that area. Before Interstate 25 was built, shoppers pulled off the road and filled up with gas or bought Indian rugs, jewelry, pottery and much more. The bar was attached and only a small part of it.
After the freeway came, the New Mexico Outlet Center mall was built in 1993 and closed in 1997. The mall was redeveloped in 2000 as ¡Traditions!, featuring New Mexico products and a cultural center, but it stands empty today.[1][2][3] At the south end of the West Frontage Road in Budaghers stands the Mormon Battalion Monument. It is a rock pillar with a wagon wheel at the top and with an information plaque on the east side. Also in Budaghers is a brightly painted cylindrical metal tank which changes subject from time to time. As of June 2013 it has a quirky skeletal car scene on the south, a misplaced saguaro on the east, and jazz instruments on the north. The west is plain green paint and rust."
Here's a bit about the Harp pictured at the top of this page:
The bearing is from a semi truck.
It was designed and built by Bill Neely and Bob Griesing in June and July of 2000."
I've been stranded at Budaghers twice; the first time, it was a blown radiator hose. I think the bar was still open but the gas station was closed. There was still a payphone at the gas station which I used to call for rescue. The second time I was less lucky; I was driving a little Ford Festiva and just about a hundred yards from the overpass, a computer chip stopped working and so did the car. I spent all night there that time, singing to keep warm. (Richard & Linda Thompson's The Wall of Death is an excellent song for such situations.)
This October, my bandmate Dwight Loop organized an experimental music festival to take place in a suite at the Traditions mall that's been transformed into a studio and performance space. It was the Rampant Egos' 1st actual gig, though we've made 9 albums!
Before the show, I walked around with the camera my friend Devin gave me. I'm no photographer, but this camera is a pretty good one.
To start, I thought the trashcan frame with no trashcan (but with some trash) made an interesting sculpture:
Then there's a cluster of abandoned bird feeders:
"Budaghers was a thriving trading post in the 1950s that was started by Joseph and Sally Budagher, who personally knew and traded with the Pueblo Indians in that area. Before Interstate 25 was built, shoppers pulled off the road and filled up with gas or bought Indian rugs, jewelry, pottery and much more. The bar was attached and only a small part of it.
After the freeway came, the New Mexico Outlet Center mall was built in 1993 and closed in 1997. The mall was redeveloped in 2000 as ¡Traditions!, featuring New Mexico products and a cultural center, but it stands empty today.[1][2][3] At the south end of the West Frontage Road in Budaghers stands the Mormon Battalion Monument. It is a rock pillar with a wagon wheel at the top and with an information plaque on the east side. Also in Budaghers is a brightly painted cylindrical metal tank which changes subject from time to time. As of June 2013 it has a quirky skeletal car scene on the south, a misplaced saguaro on the east, and jazz instruments on the north. The west is plain green paint and rust."
Here's a bit about the Harp pictured at the top of this page:
"An Aeolian Harp is a wind-driven, kinetic instrument. Wind rushing
across the strings create eerie beautiful harmonies, which perfectly
offsets the eerie creepy abandoned shopping mall in which the Harp
resides.
There are 45 strings tuned to C, D, Eb, G, and Bb in three octaves.
24 feet high, weighs about 3000 pounds.
The bearing is from a semi truck.
It was designed and built by Bill Neely and Bob Griesing in June and July of 2000."
I've been stranded at Budaghers twice; the first time, it was a blown radiator hose. I think the bar was still open but the gas station was closed. There was still a payphone at the gas station which I used to call for rescue. The second time I was less lucky; I was driving a little Ford Festiva and just about a hundred yards from the overpass, a computer chip stopped working and so did the car. I spent all night there that time, singing to keep warm. (Richard & Linda Thompson's The Wall of Death is an excellent song for such situations.)
This October, my bandmate Dwight Loop organized an experimental music festival to take place in a suite at the Traditions mall that's been transformed into a studio and performance space. It was the Rampant Egos' 1st actual gig, though we've made 9 albums!
Before the show, I walked around with the camera my friend Devin gave me. I'm no photographer, but this camera is a pretty good one.
To start, I thought the trashcan frame with no trashcan (but with some trash) made an interesting sculpture:
Then there's a cluster of abandoned bird feeders:
Friday, January 3, 2014
A Blog for Makayla
Hello, it's been a while. I had a rough time last year. I and my blog have a new purpose now.
Cluster headaches started to get really bad in August, and I lost the months of September and October completely. Again I thought they were going to kill me, then after weeks of no sleep I wished they would kill me. They didn't though.
Sometime in August, I made up my mind and created a will. I own a house on a small piece of land, and like every other USAn, I have a bunch of stuff. I have no children. What happens to it all?
In my case, it becomes Makayla Suina's problem. Hopefully it'll be to her benefit; that's what I'm banking on. She's now about 10 years old, and now will have a querencia, a safe home place, as a stepping stone at least, to whatever she winds up wanting to do. She's of the Cochiti Tribe, the great-granddaughter of Mary Venada, the first person I met at Cochiti, when I was 4. I'll tell more of the story some other time.
When I write here now, it will be something for Makayla to find later. I kind of wish I'd started a blog back in 2003, when I first thought of it - then there would be much already said, that I don't need to say now. But that imaginary blog never came into existence, so I'll be putting everything in here somewhat haphazardly; new things, old things, philosophy, science, magic, music.
Makayla, in our time evil is so predominant that everyone thinks it's normal. They call it 'human nature'. I have a different perspective, though. Growing up where you are, in a society of people who actually care for one another, you'll have a different way of seeing too. Maybe we can understand each other.
I am no saint, wizard or guru, but I think I understand a few things most people don't, simply because I'm not a materialist. I'll be talking a lot more about this.
I'll try to say important things, since I don't know how much time there is for me. So I'll close this post with what is surely one of the most important things.
I love you, Makayla. When you were a few weeks old I met you, and loved you instantly at first sight. Since you are the future, and I am the past, from now on I'm working for you.
Cluster headaches started to get really bad in August, and I lost the months of September and October completely. Again I thought they were going to kill me, then after weeks of no sleep I wished they would kill me. They didn't though.
Sometime in August, I made up my mind and created a will. I own a house on a small piece of land, and like every other USAn, I have a bunch of stuff. I have no children. What happens to it all?
In my case, it becomes Makayla Suina's problem. Hopefully it'll be to her benefit; that's what I'm banking on. She's now about 10 years old, and now will have a querencia, a safe home place, as a stepping stone at least, to whatever she winds up wanting to do. She's of the Cochiti Tribe, the great-granddaughter of Mary Venada, the first person I met at Cochiti, when I was 4. I'll tell more of the story some other time.
When I write here now, it will be something for Makayla to find later. I kind of wish I'd started a blog back in 2003, when I first thought of it - then there would be much already said, that I don't need to say now. But that imaginary blog never came into existence, so I'll be putting everything in here somewhat haphazardly; new things, old things, philosophy, science, magic, music.
Makayla, in our time evil is so predominant that everyone thinks it's normal. They call it 'human nature'. I have a different perspective, though. Growing up where you are, in a society of people who actually care for one another, you'll have a different way of seeing too. Maybe we can understand each other.
I am no saint, wizard or guru, but I think I understand a few things most people don't, simply because I'm not a materialist. I'll be talking a lot more about this.
I'll try to say important things, since I don't know how much time there is for me. So I'll close this post with what is surely one of the most important things.
I love you, Makayla. When you were a few weeks old I met you, and loved you instantly at first sight. Since you are the future, and I am the past, from now on I'm working for you.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Concert Review: Stanley Clarke
Lots of good shows around Albuquerque/Santa Fe recently. Richard Thompson at the Kimo in Albuquerque was quite good, and he's probably one of the best guitarists living. Son Volt at Santa Fe Sol put on an excellent show (July 12); they sound more and more like a country band these days. But the really amazing show was Stanley Clarke, July 21st at the Lensic in Santa Fe.
Stanley is unquestionably a virtuoso, and may be the best bassist I've ever seen, though people like Buster Williams and Dave Holland make it difficult to compare. His walking-bass playing is surely the best I've seen. His solos are phenomenally inventive, and not just flashy but full of heart. He played acoustic for most of the night, only using the electric bass in the encore, with references to his classics School Days and Rock and Roll Jelly. He played some Return to Forever material, but most of the set list was new, and fantastic stuff. The kind of jazz that makes your hair stand on end. It had the standard jazz form of theme statement followed by a series of solos, recapping the theme at the end, but otherwise there was nothing much predictable about it.
On top of all that, it seems he's an excellent bandleader, the kind of guy who's a joy to work for. (I had the same impression of John McLaughlin a couple years ago.) His band consisted of three other virtuosos, and the excellent violinist Zach Brock was the least of them. He sounded a great deal like Jerry Goodman with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but didn't leave that neighborhood much. John Beasley on keyboards was consistently startling, just about as inventive as Stanley. The astonishing thing which made the show most memorable was the drummer - 18-year-old Mike Mitchell. This cat is a cross-dresser, or at least a really weird dresser, and has a perfectly ridiculous hairdo. Stanley's first words about him were, "Don't let the hairdo fool you." Well, it didn't fool anybody. He could wear a Mr. Potato suit and it wouldn't matter. In his first few minutes of playing, I was thinking it sounded like he had the Max Roach style down pretty well. Before long he had gone way beyond that. I've seen Buddy Miles, Billy Cobham, Carl Palmer, many other great drummers, but the only ones who outshone Mike Mitchell were Cindy Blackman and McCoy Tyner's drummer Aaron Scott. Give Mike 5 years or so, and who knows?
Stanley took a 10-minute bass solo towards the end of the show loosely based around 'Spanish Phases' from his early Stanley Clarke album (his 2nd I think). It was mesmerizing, but then he let his drummer outshine him with a 10-minute solo of his own which was as unpredictable as it was delightful. He even featured Mike more than himself in the encore. A very generous man.
All'n'all, a top-drawer show for sure, which pleased the audience and the band about equally. If Stanley comes to your town, don't think twice.
Stanley is unquestionably a virtuoso, and may be the best bassist I've ever seen, though people like Buster Williams and Dave Holland make it difficult to compare. His walking-bass playing is surely the best I've seen. His solos are phenomenally inventive, and not just flashy but full of heart. He played acoustic for most of the night, only using the electric bass in the encore, with references to his classics School Days and Rock and Roll Jelly. He played some Return to Forever material, but most of the set list was new, and fantastic stuff. The kind of jazz that makes your hair stand on end. It had the standard jazz form of theme statement followed by a series of solos, recapping the theme at the end, but otherwise there was nothing much predictable about it.
On top of all that, it seems he's an excellent bandleader, the kind of guy who's a joy to work for. (I had the same impression of John McLaughlin a couple years ago.) His band consisted of three other virtuosos, and the excellent violinist Zach Brock was the least of them. He sounded a great deal like Jerry Goodman with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but didn't leave that neighborhood much. John Beasley on keyboards was consistently startling, just about as inventive as Stanley. The astonishing thing which made the show most memorable was the drummer - 18-year-old Mike Mitchell. This cat is a cross-dresser, or at least a really weird dresser, and has a perfectly ridiculous hairdo. Stanley's first words about him were, "Don't let the hairdo fool you." Well, it didn't fool anybody. He could wear a Mr. Potato suit and it wouldn't matter. In his first few minutes of playing, I was thinking it sounded like he had the Max Roach style down pretty well. Before long he had gone way beyond that. I've seen Buddy Miles, Billy Cobham, Carl Palmer, many other great drummers, but the only ones who outshone Mike Mitchell were Cindy Blackman and McCoy Tyner's drummer Aaron Scott. Give Mike 5 years or so, and who knows?
Stanley took a 10-minute bass solo towards the end of the show loosely based around 'Spanish Phases' from his early Stanley Clarke album (his 2nd I think). It was mesmerizing, but then he let his drummer outshine him with a 10-minute solo of his own which was as unpredictable as it was delightful. He even featured Mike more than himself in the encore. A very generous man.
All'n'all, a top-drawer show for sure, which pleased the audience and the band about equally. If Stanley comes to your town, don't think twice.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Democracy in Egypt
Today I have been very much inspired by the behavior of the people of Egypt (it isn't the first time), and I mentioned to a friend that my faith in human nature was given a boost. At the same time, I'm painfully aware of my fellow USAns' near-universal belief that democracy consists of being allowed to choose between two candidates for office, and almost nothing else; we're expected to "vote" with our money by choosing what products to buy, for example. Yet I can truthfully say that in my adult life I have not yet been asked, or allowed, to vote on anything important.
The Egyptians apparently clearly understand that in a democracy the will of the people is sacred. They know that an elected President must serve all parts of the population, that winning a vote is not a winner-take-all situation, but the assuming of the responsibility to build a concensus. And, it seems, they refuse to be ruled by those who do not understand these things any more.
USAns, on the other hand, seem generally to believe that if the Senate 'votes' to abolish candy, and condemn those who eat it as 'enemy masticants', we have to live with it, because after all we elected the psychos.
I like to go back to the basics; it's refreshing. Here's a few:
Secrecy in government is completely incompatible with democracy. This means that all public servants sacrifice their privacy when they serve. The rest of us keep ours.
Democracy and empire are incompatible. The Romans proved this a while back.
Capitalism is not incompatible with democracy, as long as every individual, every clan, community, and polity, has the protected right to approve or ban actions by corporations that affect them. That is, charters of all corporations must be subject to review by all communities in which they operate. Corporations as tools of people can be very useful, and make many things possible that would not be otherwise. Corporations that make tools of people absolutely must be abolished, as they have abundantly proven their hostility to life.
Every government is a corporation. (By the way, did Marx really fail to realize this? Communists in general seem oblivious of it.) Any corporation out of the control of the people thinks only of its own perpetuation and growth. This applies to every undemocratic government, which includes most named democracies.
The United States has never been fully a democracy, though we had a good chance at it in recent history (1972-1980, in my estimation). That chance is long lost. The ruling class rules but no longer has any class. They openly mock the will of the people, and brag of being rich as if it were the same as being wise. (Do you hear me, Joe Biden? BabyDoc Bush? Nancy Pelosi?) These sociopathic "leaders" (see Eugene Ionesco for the best definition of Leader) command by force and fraud the respect their behavior could never inspire, and by virtue of their meritless authority prevent any humans less inferior than themselves from aspiring to even the humblest reforms. It's been said a lot, but I'll say it too because it's true; brothers and sisters, we're screwed. But so what? People have been screwed throughout most of history. If it brings on despair, just think about how very not alone you really are.
There's always someone to talk to. They might be in Egypt, though.
I haven't figured out how to post a song in here yet - I'm a tech-tortoise. But if you can find it, go listen to John Kruth's "Here When You're There", and wipe the frown off.
For now, till later, what then,
Justin
The Egyptians apparently clearly understand that in a democracy the will of the people is sacred. They know that an elected President must serve all parts of the population, that winning a vote is not a winner-take-all situation, but the assuming of the responsibility to build a concensus. And, it seems, they refuse to be ruled by those who do not understand these things any more.
USAns, on the other hand, seem generally to believe that if the Senate 'votes' to abolish candy, and condemn those who eat it as 'enemy masticants', we have to live with it, because after all we elected the psychos.
I like to go back to the basics; it's refreshing. Here's a few:
Secrecy in government is completely incompatible with democracy. This means that all public servants sacrifice their privacy when they serve. The rest of us keep ours.
Democracy and empire are incompatible. The Romans proved this a while back.
Capitalism is not incompatible with democracy, as long as every individual, every clan, community, and polity, has the protected right to approve or ban actions by corporations that affect them. That is, charters of all corporations must be subject to review by all communities in which they operate. Corporations as tools of people can be very useful, and make many things possible that would not be otherwise. Corporations that make tools of people absolutely must be abolished, as they have abundantly proven their hostility to life.
Every government is a corporation. (By the way, did Marx really fail to realize this? Communists in general seem oblivious of it.) Any corporation out of the control of the people thinks only of its own perpetuation and growth. This applies to every undemocratic government, which includes most named democracies.
The United States has never been fully a democracy, though we had a good chance at it in recent history (1972-1980, in my estimation). That chance is long lost. The ruling class rules but no longer has any class. They openly mock the will of the people, and brag of being rich as if it were the same as being wise. (Do you hear me, Joe Biden? BabyDoc Bush? Nancy Pelosi?) These sociopathic "leaders" (see Eugene Ionesco for the best definition of Leader) command by force and fraud the respect their behavior could never inspire, and by virtue of their meritless authority prevent any humans less inferior than themselves from aspiring to even the humblest reforms. It's been said a lot, but I'll say it too because it's true; brothers and sisters, we're screwed. But so what? People have been screwed throughout most of history. If it brings on despair, just think about how very not alone you really are.
There's always someone to talk to. They might be in Egypt, though.
I haven't figured out how to post a song in here yet - I'm a tech-tortoise. But if you can find it, go listen to John Kruth's "Here When You're There", and wipe the frown off.
For now, till later, what then,
Justin
Thursday, June 27, 2013
The Great Desideratum of Democracy
To justly forge a collective will with which we can honorably act in concert even as we disagree.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)