Tuesday, January 31, 2006

addendum to the gospel...........

LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is a classic example of why we should develop a healthy ability to question "authority"
http://www.rense.com/general19/enemy.htm
it`s kinda frightening to think that everything that we can legally utilise to heal our bodies runs through the filter of this guy`s institution.
my gospel includes learning to think independantly and questioning things as a matter of habit.
that includes everything i say here.

the gospel according to dr.alistair.............

well, here it is, the beta version of the gospel according to dr.alistair. it is laid out in typically stream-of-consciousness fashion, because that`s how it happens in my head and how it goes into yours. beta testing means that you guys are the guinea pigs or lab rats, depending on your preference. i expect feedback because this is a lab experiment, this thing called life, and if we are to thrive we need to communicate......
so here goes.
1. we get what we think about most.
2.run.jogging is for pussies.
3.as much as plants make a viable food source for humans, try to get some meat. the protien density and chemistry of meat is ideally suited to supporting our bodies and brains.
4.stay as far away from political debate as possible. your opinion does not matter.
5.generate as much love as you possibly can, every time you remember to.
6.force a smile. the next one won`t be.
7.save for a rainy day.
8.look people right in the eye and say what you mean to. (practice often.)
9.the only solution is spiritual.
10.diets will kill you. we consume enough calories to run body function, operate our brains and repair damage to tissues. all other calories are stored as fat. know how much food you need to satisfy the above criteria and don`t eat any more. if you find yourself unable to stop eating, deal with the underlying anxiety. my relaxation cd is for sale at www.tools4change.ca it will help.
anyone who complexifies the simple mechanism of diet described above is lying to you and thier advice has the potential to do harm, unless you are suffering from a medical condition. in which case a doctor will help.
11. don`t watch t.v. television is a device whereby large corporations hypnotise you and then expose your sleeping mind to endless streams of commercials. look in your kitchen. do you have a rational explenation for the existance of most of the things in there? how about your garage? basement? are you planning a garage sale soon?
12.spend as little time as possible around people you cannot be unconditionally nice to.
13.do some physcal exercise. i did a simple exercise plan for the senior soccer league that i play in. you can watch it here.
www.tools4change.ca/workout.mpg.
i suggest begining by doing the movements without weight and progressing slowly. the benifits gained from this sort of training are ligament and tendon strength. farm strength. it wont build buscle. you will be able to pick the groceries out of the car more easily and picking your children up wont be a problem..... and if you are an athlete, your game will improve.
14.remember that we are all connected as one consciousness. it makes decisions simpler when we think this way.

that `s it for now. there will be more to come.
peace................

Sunday, January 29, 2006

the origins of fear.

some people who had responsibility for a group of chimpanzees decided to do an experiment. they put five chimps in big cage and in the middle of the cage a ladder was placed, allowing the chimps to climb up to reach a banana suspended from the roof. every time a chimp tried to climb the ladder to get the banana someone sprayed the animals with cold water.
pretty soon the chimps weren`t going up the ladder any more.
then one off the chimps was removed and a new chimp was put in the cage. every time the new chimp went up the ladder he was stopped by the other chimps.
this process was repeated until none of the original five chimps were left. five new chimps lived in the cage with the ladder and the banana having never experienced the cold water, yet none of the chimps went up the ladder and if new chimps were introduced they were stopped from going up the ladder.
a culture of fear existed in the cage. the response existed in the behaviour of the chimps but no evidence of the stimulus was available to observation.
what would an observer conclude watching the behaviour of the new chimps in the cage without understanding the water conditioning that went before?
there are a number of disquieting questions that start to arise about our own existance when we look at the irrational behaviour of the chimps in the cage. we start to wonder what culturally supported fears that we accept are founded on actions that don`t exist now. we start to wonder what fears we act upon haven`t been installed by agencies that are reacting to similar actions that no longer exist, or are the personal bias of individuals or groups with agendas that are at odds with our own.
we have nothing to fear but fear it`s self.
a spiritual practice should contain ways of mastering fear.
this is my personal belief. i demand it in my life. i challenge fear, and i find that when i do it fades to nothing and i can go on to the next thing.
i can go up the ladder and get the banana because i`m a monkey and i eat bananas and i`m hungry.
as spiritual practice should contain ways of mastering fear because if it doesn`t then it`s allowing, promoting and utilising fear to control.
it`s a simple rule.
the same rule works in relationships of all description, from work to love to sports teams to politics. if we are being told to be afraid then we are being manipulated.
a spiritual practice must contain a mechanism for mastering fear. in fact i would go as far as saying that it must be the main focus of a spiritual practice. to hunt fear as one would hunt any prey. and when we catch it kill it.
only then can we work towards our personal divinity.

#100.......enlightenment vs. enheavyment.

this is my one hundredth post here. time for a small editorial.
this has been the begining of an experiment in the emergence of my ego`s resonance with the universe. it has been an interesting view on the medium term state of my own perception of the nature of reality and the views of those who read what i`ve said. thanks to everyone who read these words and to those who felt compelled to comment. my hope is that, as this process continues, a dialog will emerge so that we can gain some comfort in the knowledge that there are others that think in similar terms.

enlightenment vs. enheavyment. we tend to see things more clearly by contrast. the joy and awe of enlightenment sometimes becomes a numbing experience. if all one knows is a smile then things can become tedious. a frown or two will provide a way for comparison. as th frowns persist it becomes obvious that when one begins to actively and deliberately begin to smile again, then the joy returns.
one has to ask whether the joy comes first, or whether it was the shapes created by the muscles around the mouth and the eyes.
is the stimulus internal or external?
are we masters or prey?
both.
it is a constant struggle.
mastery comes with practice.
the muscles of our bodies carry coding that stimulates signals in the brain that emotions are to be felt. make the bodily shape that stimulates certain feelings and the signals are fired off, neurchemically...........and we get feelings as a response.
this is equally valid due to external stimulus as due to what we imagine.
so we can creat enlightenment, or we can create enheavyment, or we can recieve stimulation externally that will provoke these feelings too.
but why wait?
mastery comes with practice.
we forget this when we are happy all the time and when we are unhappy it is difficult to remember.
such is life.
remember to practice safe smiling children.................when it`s easy and when it`s more difficult.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

the materialist position.

if the world is comprised of solid things....that is, things that are real if we can touch them with our hands and bump our toes off them in the dark. things that can be measured, quantified, categorised and predicted and controlled,
then what is music?
music is a thing that eminates from physical things. things that are hit, plucked, bowed, blown into, pressed upon and otherwise physically effected in comfortably scientifically controlable ways...........
so what are the sounds that i hear in my head?
the soaring melodies and inefable tones of unimaginable beauty that roar inwards into my consciousness.
can you not hear them?
can you not feel them?
i thought you could............

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

the aim of academic writing.

H.L. Mencken once said that the aim of academic writing was "to stagger sophomores and other professors".
by this definition my work isn`t academic.
my work comes from my desire to impart the feelings i get from thinking about things in certain ways that are inconoclastic, heretical, wrong, illogical, lies, paradoxical, hallucinations, absurd and inflamatory.
nevertheless, if applied, these attitudes will make you feel good.
when you feel good, you make good decisions and when you make good decisions, you prosper.
without prosperity, and for the purposes of this discussion i will define prosperity as the ability to provide security and sustenance for one`s self and dependants, nothing else matters.
if we look at maslow`s hierarchy of needs, we see food, fuel and shelter at the bottom of a pyramid that works up to spiritual enlightenment as the point at the top. we satisfy all the levels to get there.
that`s why we need to prosper to grow toward spiritual enlightenment. the boot camp of divinity is prosperity.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

a test..........and i know how much you like tests.....

http://www.totse.com/en/ego/no_laughing_matter/snquiz.html

i consider the study of logic and semantics to be a way to mental health in a functional way. let me know your take on this particularly interesting quiz.
and remember to.........smile. :-D

Sunday, January 22, 2006

fear.............

i had a discussion with marc stevens on his radio show last night and the conversation gravitated to the concept and process of fear in our consciousness.
what is fear?
it is the feeling we get when we know we either run or fight. the feeling is known as fight or flight for this reason. this sensation is very useful in situations where we need to jump start our physiology. situations such as running from a lion or fist-fighting a prize-fighter or wrestling a bear or any one of a thousand situations we find ourselves in as a hunter-gatherer.
so we can see that, in a technological society fight or flight becomes a redundant mechanism except in the rarest of circumstances......but the mechanism still operates in us, so we need to understand and utilise the mechanism to our benifit as we do other tools at our disposal.
adrenalin and testosterone are powerful neuro-transmitter agents that, for brief moments, allow us super human strength and abilities. a mother can pull a car off a child, a man can run or swim or jump exraordinary distances to win medals and we can all react powerfully when we need to thanks to these chemicals that are available to us.
where is the problem then?
the problem arises when we are exposed to stressful situations where we would like to either run or fight and we can do niether. here is a partial list of these kind of situations ;
politics.
war reports on the news.
catastrophies on the news.
conflict in relationships.
news reports in general.
these are a few of the areas where we are responding to the information provided in a manner where we would like to fight or run but we can do niether.
continued exposure to this kind if stimulation produces dissociative states in the mind.
after 9/11 the incedents of post-traumatic stress disorder among the general population rose to epidemic proportions. not just among firefighters, people in the towers and other emergency workers, but amongst people watching the disaster live on t.v. and people exposed to ongoing media coverage for months after the event.
i personally can`t watch accounts or documentaries about that day. it was that event that made me decide not to consume news media ever again.........for my mental health.
i realised that the state created by horrific images and reports of disasters, accidents and conflicts destroys our ability to engage our conscious reality in a clear way.
there are those who cliam that this mechanism is deliberately used to control us through constantly creating this fear state in the population. i can`t disagree with the potential for this happening, though wether there is a small group of people deliberately scaring the shit out of people to control them is unproveable and if true, dangerous to investigate.
the fact that we are in a suggestable, dissociative state while consuming t.v. and other "entertainment" media is indisputable. the only cure is to not watch or debate the issues entirely. not formulate opinions, not to find protagonists, conspiracies or crimes. all of these actions return us to the dissociative state and the fear.
then we are as maliable as mud in the hands of sellers of products and services that we niether want nor need.
imagine a day without t.v.?
a week?
how about years?
just imagine the freedom you would have to draw your own conclusions about what`s most important to you now. your health, your spirituality, your love, family, joy, pleasure.
these are the feelings available to you.
do you remember how they feel?
choose to find out a little bit more about what they feel like because you have made the time by choosing good feelings for no reason.
good feelings don`t need a reason.
reason is an intelectual process that technocrats use instead of feelings to create thier world.
it doesn`t have to be yours.
when you choose.
the only thing we have to fear is fear it`s self. (and those who sell fear.)

Friday, January 20, 2006

manifest destiny.

interesting term. it can be applied in a variety of ways. for me though it has always meant that what you see is what you get. what you envision mostly in your consciousness sends a signal to your system that that is what you want to happen.........and it does.
the thing is, we have so much clatter going on around us all the time that we miss the clues. we miss the opportunities to recognise that we are getting what we want right now.
the things we have happening in our lives are the things we`ve created and tolerated and allowed to manifest themselves here. many times we convince ourselves that these things are seperate from our self and created by others. that`s the illusion that we need to see past. it can`t be both. it can`t be a chaos of everyone contributing to a maelstrom of ideas and directions and desires and also a self-directed, focussed masifest destiny.
that would be hell.
if, as a part of our operating of the manifest destiny machine, we allow chaos and interferance from others, then that becomes a concrete part of our vision.
when we intend something with passionate force for long enough, it`s bound to happen.
how long is long enough?
until it happens.
how much force is nessesary?
more than you`re using now, unless you`ve got all that you want..........
there have been times in your life when things have happened precisely like i described above.
how do i know that?
because you wouldn`t have read this far otherwise.
look, it takes tremendous focus and determination to drive on. it`s not easy. especially because people deny that manifest destiny even exists. but we`ve seen it and felt it.
so let`s do it again.
crank up the best, most beautiful vision of something you want to happen and see it happening........as if you are certain it`s happening now.
do you see how it feels?
what are you doing in this endevour?
what benifit is there in this?
are you certain this is happening?
i`ll tell you how you know that you`ve picked the right thing. you will know because you`ve always known. it`s the reason why you are here right now asking and searching for answers. it has to be this way because it can`t happen any other way.
go inside and see yourself there hearing sounds, seeing people and things going on and feeling it happening with absolute certainty.
what does that feel like?
recognise the feeling?
get familiar with that feeling because that`s the feeling that will create the spell to make all of that stuff real.
it always has for everyone who has donw it long enough to make thier dreams real.
how long is long enough?
just long enough to make it happen.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

catholics strike again.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060119/ts_nm/religion_catholic_evolution_dc
so where should intelligent design be taught? religion has had thousands of years in the "conventional" view of things. "science" has been here for quite a while too. intellegent design, which in my mind raises some interesting points, fleshed out here; www.lloydpye.com needs to hold the course for a few years as a seperate position.
there are those who say that intelligent design is merely creationism is disguise but, in my mind, there is a distinction here. creationism encompasses big bangs, seven days of creating the universe, light, darkness, etc. whereas intelligent design is saying that man was engineered. the website linked above clarifies this far better than i can. it says the there is a distinction between micro and macro evolution the science doesn`t adress, it says that we don`t need a supernatural reason to explain human existance. it says that science has the tools right now to rationalise the fact that human dna is vastly different to any other species on the planet.
intelligent design, as long as it doesn`t gravitate to religious fundimentalism is a great way for students and people in general to ask critical questions of a scientific community the mumbles about big bangs, dark matter and missing links. they patronise us as if we can`t think for ourselves and challenge clearly falacious positions like humans evolving from monkies.
one fact; we have one less chromasome pair than monkeys. they have 24 pairs, we have 23.......
mutation that would cause a species to mutate at the chromasome level doesn`t ever create a new functional species. we all know what it creates.
monsters.
if science can get by that then we have something to talk about.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

bike ride.

o.k., so here`s the thing. i get on my bike and ride due east into the wind. it`s mostly downhill about five miles to lake ontario and then two miles back up to starbucks. turning south along lakeshore i`m now pedalling directly into the wind past the big houses on the lake. i come to turn west away from the lake and head to starbucks and find myself once again facing directly into a gusting wind.
after a light lunch and coffee at starbucks, and the prerequisite discussions, i once again rode. this time south directly into the gusting wind. i turned west finally to head home and for the last time found myself facing directly into gusts of wind accompanied with intermittant rain that threatened to turn to snow.
there are going to be days like this where no matter what you do or which way to turn you will be facing directly into the wind.
you`d better be in a position to make the best of it.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

love is the drug.

i recently had a session with a client who was rejected rather harshly after a two month relationship. the partner had rejected my client with little explenation and, up until our session, no futher contact.
my client was torn up by this abrupt end to things and was exhibiting classic simptoms of blaming, negotiating and imagining reasons. all things designed to protect the mind and body from the withdrawl from the neuro-peptide bath that the relationship had immersed my clients hypothalamus in.
the alternative was to begin the extremely painful withdrawl from this "love" and expose the hypothalamus to the alternative cold, lonely, desperate feelings illicited as the receptor sites of the hypothalamus die.
the cure? other neuro-transmitter doses.
some immerse themselves in thier career, some find surrogate relationships, which for obvious reasons are doomed to failure, some harm themselves and some are able to cope on a rational basis rather quickly. such is the variety of the human animal and his neurochemistry.
to discuss love as a neurotransmitter process may seem to some to trivialise the state. i think it does precisely the opposite. it allows one to understand the power of emotions and helps to lend insight when terrible pain is experienced.
it gives some hope of being able to recover and heal from the loss of the thing that keeps us together as a species.
the most successful one on the face of the planet.
there is a great deal more to this love state, but that`s another story..........

Monday, January 16, 2006

hegelian dialectic.

hegel was a philosopher that put forward the process of the dialectic. a thesis, or idea, and an antithisis or reaction which resulted in a synthesis, or combining or providing a solution.
this can be expressed in this way. problem-reaction-solution.
this methodology is the underpinnings of how fear of plagues, terrorism, cancer, peanuts, laser pointers, floods and anything else you can imagine can be used as a way to manipulate behaviours.
there are those who firmly believe that 9/11 was deliberately devised so that the government could use homeland security to keep an eye on the population under the guise of protection from terrorists.
problem-reaction-solution.
using this model we can see that those best suited to providing the solution are responsible for the problem in the first place.
i am not making a judgement of the veracity of the claims that 9/11 was an inside job. there are hundreds of industrial solutions provided to us by creating problems. we have an enourmous industry researching the "cure" for cancer for instance. meanwhile little is really being done about cigarette consumption and diabetes. the two largest killers of the population. they aren`t profitable problems to solve. in fact solving the consumption of cigarettes and sugary foods would cost the economy billions in tax revenues from cigarette and fast food sales. not to mention the loss of jobs in the industries that supply those products.
the solution for the individual is to recognise the means of manipulation. when you call a covert game it stops.
in your mind is where this all takes place..........so if you call the game on yourself first, you can smile when the next person tries it on you.
i will be guest speaker on marc steven`s "no state project" radio show on saturday, 21st january at 8.00pm eastern standard, or 7.00pm central time. tune in and let me know what you think about our discussion regarding the nature of reality and the basis of fear in our society, and remember; the map is not the territory.
the radio broadcast details are at marc`s website below.

The No State ProjectHost: Marc Stevens Website: www.adventuresinlegalland.comCall-in Number: 800-313-9443 Time: Saturday, 7:00pm - 8:00pm CST
Marc Stevens is a consultant and the author of the book Adventures In Legal Land. This unique book rips off the "state's" veil of legitimacy and exposes the most pervasive world hoax - the government hoax. Marc Stevens proves there is no "state". Marc is a voluntaryist (libertarian) who believes government is anti-freedom and his No State Project show is dedicated to bringing about a voluntary society.

Friday, January 13, 2006

urgent appeal.

my sister trains animals in britain and recently there was an arson at one of her client`s stables which resulted in the deaths and serious injury of a number of animals. the link below it the posting on her site. i am making an appeal here for anyone who wishes to help with donations for the vet bills for the animals that survived.
http://www.abbiesanimals.co.uk/appeal.html
it is unconscionable to me that anyone, angry, resentful or for whatever reason would resort to the deliberate murder of animals. it is a tragedy of immesurable proportions and an indication of the bancrupcy of spirit that some suffer.
your help is greatly appreciated.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

a bit about dimensions...................

we live in a 3d world. up/down, left/right, back/forward. all of this moves forward in time, the way our consciousness percieves things.
imagine how a 2d cosciousness would percieve things.
back/forward, left/right.......no up or down.
the entire up/down modality of our existance would be invisible to a 2d consciousness. if anyone in a 2d world found a way to move up or down, they would only flick into view as thier movement crossed the 2d plane. depending how fast a person was moving relative to the 2d space they would only be seen as a flash or blip.
just as a consciousness that can move back and forth in time will only be seen by 3d entities at the point where they intersect the 3d cube.
time exists at right angles to all points in the 3d cube. that`s why we can`t actually see time travelling consciousness in 3d space.
it`s the same reason that consciousness in the 2d plane has no access to 3d movement or consciousness.
at this point (cube, in 3d.....) i will stop so that the concept can sink in.
if it does actually sink in, let me know. i`m still working on it.

Monday, January 09, 2006

the true power of now, now.

ok, so if you got the last bit about dimensions, then you will love this. once you grasp the fact that in the fouth dimension everything occurs now. and that, at the quantum level particles....that is the things that we and everything else is made of here, is flitting about in constant contact, totally aware of everything else, then we are actually doing that too. now. right now. what this means is that all of the possible outcomes of all the things that could happen are happening now. not just all the matter but all the thoughts and eventualities too. we can only resonate with one thing at a time here in three dimensions so we must have some mechanism for deciding which outcome and experience we are going to be "in".
i think you are begining to see what that mechanism might be..............

lets get metaphysical.

metaphysics is the study of things greater than the physical reality we know on earth through the five senses. it could be refered to as the kinesthetic view of reality in that it is an explenation, or at least an attempt to explain what we all feel and yet may not be able to articulate. we feel that there is more to everything than we can grasp, yet our "common" sense says no, the ground is solid beneath our feet and the speed of light is consistant, relative to the observer.
yet there are persistant gimpses of a world that seems to move just outside of our ability to get a good look at it.
we are told that we are seperate, individual people and that we are alone here and that we move freely without connection to eachother, free of communication but for the time we are physically close. bell`s theorum states that a particle, an atom or quark of whatever measureable packet of energy, once coming into contact with another particle, will always remain in contact with that other particle. no matter how far apart they travel or for how long.
bell proved this in elaborate tests with particles in a lab predicted by some unbelieveably complex math. the particles had knowledge of the state of thier partner at all times. not just at the speed of light either. immediately. so here`s a special case for knowledge or awareness breaking the light barrier.
consciousness is emotional transfer of awareness or knowledge. to become conscious, that is to transduce reality, or to get the information sent, we have to have a feeling.
without the feelings there is no recognition.
my own solution to the puzzle of how these particles display instantanious communication over distance is that they, like our consciousness, are transdimentional.
take a deep breath. let it out.
time and distance and the measurement of these values is contained in three dimensional space. with the fourth one making everything move about and behaving paradoxically, at the quantum level. if we go up a dimension and make all time now,.............then everything happens together and we are all one thing.
maybe it`s our brain`s three dimensional bias that we see along the time line one point at a time that messes up our ability to see the truth of our connectedness.
the odd thing is that we get flashes of the connectedness and the fourth dimensionality of it all and, bang, it all makes sense again for a second or two.
we`ve all had moments like that when we have realisation that things are o.k. and we feel attached to the trees, the flowers, the sky and the stars at night and to eachother and we just............aaaaahhhhhhh, relax and smile, knowing that this is a trick of some enourmous magnitude and we must be dreaming.
we really don`t have much choice in the matter, do we?

Saturday, January 07, 2006

language creates boundaries.

language creates boundaries. yes it does.
the physicist says that nothing can go faster than the speed of light. that means that it would take four years to go to the nearest star at the speed of light. to go to the farthest known reaches of the universe at this speed or less will take millions of years. vastly inconcieveable amounts of time to justify space exploration for a species that lives eighty years at best.
the language that we use to create these values is made up of math, physics and calculus that hasn`t changed much in centuries.
inside of the last century, with the emergence of quantum mechanics, the attempt to measure energy states of matter, we have seen new terminology that suggests a vastly different view of the makeup of space, time and matter it`s self. even hallowed values such as the speed of light and conservation of energy are coming under scrutiny from people tired of the restrictions of established physical restraints.
these people are developing new theories and ways of discussing concepts and asking why not instead of saying because........said so.
maybe the theories are wrong.
why would we question the theories?
we are seeing some strange things in the sky is why.
people are seeing lights, disks and other flying objects that are defying known laws of physics and are consistantly being seen, filmed and photographed doing what it is they`re not supposed to be able to do.
the reports of these craft are documented as far back as records go in history, but just recently the average person has had access to digital photography equipment that until about 5 years ago only the professional photographer could justify owning.
we now have an irrefutable digital record of these objects in the hands of the general population, and so it`s natural that a new language has to be developed to describe what is being seen.
anti-gravity, electro-gravitics, zero-point energy, cold fusion. all taboo and impossible according to the established scientific model. yet some if not all of these things are in trials in labs around the world.
we haven`t been able to see these things in action because science is big business. if conventional research funding (money you and i pay in taxes.) gets out of old school hands and into the cutting edge, where the new language is asking questions, then many people will lose high-paying research jobs. so they keep saying it`s impossible as the u.f.o.s fly by the window.
when we change our language we change our lives, our technology and the future of humanity.
when do we get started?
the moment we start asking how to do things, and believing we can find solutions.

Friday, January 06, 2006

vast artistic scope.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060105/lf_afp/afpentertainmentgermany_060105161213
this is a classic example of abstractions of effort and work. it may not be to everyone`s taste and frankly a six hundred odd year long musical composition is outside of the scope of my value of music, but the fact remains that it falls into domain of art. and for it`s own sake it is fully resolved. it riminds me of the guys who wrapped a huge building in coloured canvas. millions of square feet of it. a tremendous feat of engineering as well as very cool to see. people travelled from all over the world to experience the event.
art is the repository of culture and a predictor of the future. the chinese knew this in the sixties when they destroyed art and jailed, tortured and killed artists, intellectuals and pretty much anyone but the very afraid. only then could they be successful dictators.
any society represses and limits art is heading for dictatorship.
technocrats are deathly afraid of artists and thier ability to call the technocrat`s game. only fearful craftsmen can survive in tyranny.

neurochemical reality.

we live in a state of emotion. without emotions we go to sleep. dull tedium of nothing that unemotionality provides is a robot state that allows repetitive tasking that industry offers as work. the curse of being alive is that repetitive tasks are intolerable to to the emotive state for any length of time. it is emotional death. we all need to accomplish work. art is work. thinking is work. building things is work.
there is a balance to be struck between repetetive tasking and involving ourselves in unstructured activities that allow feelings to be experienced.
i like the term "art for art`s sake." it suggests a prior organic resting state of "artness" that we can have a relationship with.
there are those who like the term "work for work`s sake". i have heard people say that there is a certain satisfaction in doing work, or completing a job, or seeing a job well done. i think these people are talking about art, but have taken work as a poor second choice.
granted, work pays the bills. if one cannot make art serve that purpose.
creativity and doing art are work. it is a type of work that creates something new as a result of effort. not only does it satisfy from a work standpoint but it can provide pleasure. take the pleasure out of art and you`ve got work again.
in the middle of all of this you have craft. the blend of a prior artistic effort and work. many people who consider themselves artists are actually craftsmen. we need craftsmen. the majority of everything standing in the world was done by craftsmen of one sort of another. but they are not artists.
artists are alive and prey to emotions at all points in thier conscious experience. craftsmen are lucid for periods in artistic ways, but have to switch off to do the repetitive work. any craftsman who, for whatever reason, stays switched on remains an artist and will continue to create outside of the need of the craftsman.
it comes down to how the mind processes the neurochemicals that create feelings in the body. craftsmen produce the chemicals in the brain that release pleasure when the job nears completion. the artist is experiencing pleasure from the begining. there are aspects of artist in the craftsman and vise versa. the craftsman will do the work of other artists, whereas the artist will not.
art is valued for this reason. it is a manifestation of individuality. the pure essense of character. pure emotion.
art isn`t created for any other reason than for it`s self. emotion= emotion. craft is engaged to add value.
art is for art`s sake. the craftsman`s work isn`t resolved until payment is recieved. therefore work for work`s sake doesn`t work. (ha ha.)

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

where is your mind?

it seems like an obvious question. but try to answer. think back to a time when you thought about this before.......or remember when you saw a rabbit when you were a child......imagine going down the rabbit hole after him. deeper and deeper you go,through twists and turns, past roots and rocks and sand and clay to his home. deep in the earth.
now where is your mind?
in a rabbit hole, or sitting at your keyboard. or both.
we have this idea that our mind sits inside the grey matter inside our skull. we have this concept tucked away for safekeeping and we don`t even know how it got thier. we assume that some smart people in science and religion discovered that it is kept there and we just went about our business and didn`t think any more about it.
in our dreams we go on adventures and experience and re-experience memories and fly and swim and become different people and imagine the preposterous and ridiculous and when we awake we are sometimes stunned by the recollection of the such experiences. does that all occur within the bounds of a bone box?
are you now of two minds about the whole idea, or are you convinced one way or the other? and where does the concept about being of two minds come from?
the magic of the mind is that it can support the idea of two minds and function in a state of two or even many minds together all having different sets of beliefs, emotions and personalities. the so-called multiple personality is that animal.
imagine that you see yourself walking along the street with friends or whatever. imagine that you are in a building across the road and you walk by. see what you are wearing, how you walk, what you are saying to the other people with you as you listen. from this vantage point you can see yourself differently, yet you are you, doing all the things you do, say and think. now imagine yourself sitting reading this. see what you see yourself doing now, how you are breathing, realise what you are thinking and what you will do next.
are there two of you now?
once we realise the flexibility of our consciousness we can begin to see that the mind is merely passing through the head. we have become so accustomed to only focussing on being behind the eyes that we have forgotten that we can percieve many different conscious vantage points.
where do you go when you drive ten miles past your exit on the highway? where is your mind then.
the mind is a flexible structure. the more we pull and twist and shape it, the more it remembers how to do so many different things. inside and outside the head.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

thorny issue.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060103/en_tv_eo/18055


so what has this got to do with the absolute word of god? it`s more likely that the bureaucracy of the catholic church can`t take a joke.
it shows that they have a considerable amount of power in the media though.
we can understand that they recently apologised for torturing and killing half a million people during the inquisition. we can understand that they are having financial issues paying out the settlements in the lawsuits regarding the priests interering with young boys. we can understand that they think it`s a good idea that tribal africans don`t have access to condoms.
so i guess we`ll have to get used to the fact that they have enourmous power in the media and don`t have a sense of humour. hmmm, sounds like they haven`t really changed much since the inquisition.
i have this rule. if there`s no laughter it`s a danger sign. when we stop laughing it`s because something`s wrong. test it on yourself. smiling= happy. simple math.
now, south park isn`t entirely my cup of tea. i don`t encourage my children to watch it. they will watch the simpsons, futurama and family guy on occasion, but my personal view is that sometimes south park goes a little too far. with this in mind, i don`t think that everyone should have to take my position regarding south park or any other show or issue. i have a really cool device that came with my t.v.. an off switch. if you don`t like the damned show then don`t watch it. if you are a giant international movement (notice i didn`t say cult.) then use your network to spread the word that there is a small device on the t.v. that controls what comes on the screen. if you are sitting with your children or particularly sensitive adults then you can leap up and change the channel or even turn it off, if the need arises.
this approach is applicable to all manner of programming including some of the daft shit that is spouted by televangelists or catholic ministers or baptists on the religious channels. i watch until i can`t bear it anymore and then change the channel, or turn it off completely. hey, maybe there needs to be a little sticker on the remote that lets people know some of the more subtle uses for the device they`re holding in thier hand. it works for sports too, and soap operas and movies with alan alda in them and cnn and 20/20 and wolf blitzer and........well, you get the idea.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

the hypothalamus`s friend.

here is an introduction to the hypothalamus`s friend. the amygdala.
http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/brainmagiclesson1.html
this small area of the brain has the potential to make or break your day, depending on how it is treated.

what the bleep do we know?

what the bleep do we know is an interesting film. it is a documentary/adventure story dealing with the quantum mechanical effects of thinking on our lives. the story illustrates very well how we can become trapped in beliefs that create reality as we go. it also explains some complex q.m. theories and devices that correlate with mystical teachings that go back as long as humans have been alive.
the thesis of the movie can summed up as; we see what we believe and expect to see.
the movie also has a go at religion. it suggests through the words of people being interviewed that religion has taken the dynamic aspect of spitiuality out of thier practices and created chaos in culture as a result.
the movie has a go at psychology also for the same reason.
the movie gives the viewer a roadmap to thier own neurology and some insight into how we create emotions through the use of chemicals produced in the hypothalamus. this one concept alone will get some eligious types in a twist. it thier mind it "reduces" the importance of life down to chemical reactions in the body.
i think it`s a miracle that we can have some insight into how we experience our feelings. it isn`t a trivialisation as much as a revelation. life isn`t so much mysterious any longer, as much as it is miraculous and a thrill to be alive knowing that we have a mechanism inside that we can use to create joy and passion for living and for just simply being alive.
the religious realise watching this, if they`re honest with themselves, that the concept of god becomes meaningless.........in the face of simple concepts that are proven out in this film. simple concepts the we can apply to our own neurochemistry immediately. and every time we need to.
mystics have been teaching this for centuries but the concepts get diluted down to dogma and societal control once the halls and auditoriums start to fill up with people eager to hear the message. it becomes a relationship between gurus and adherents.
i guess, for some, being happy and in awe of being alive isn`t enough. they need someone or something to follow.
we are god. it happens inside our brains all the time. constantly, non stop.
it`s obvious to me.........................