Horror Vacui

Where there is no talent prestige will always rush in to fill the void. 

I Don't Like You

When I was young people assigned eccentric genius to me. They were wrong.
Now that I am older people assign senile genius to me. Wrong again.
Absolutely nothing has changed except my appearance.
People are self absorbed. People are ignorant. People project and then judge themselves harshly.

No wonder I don't like people.

Go to Sea

Chasing hollow constructs - success, money, power, religion, prestige all one’s life. All of them empty human invention, none of them real.
Is it any wonder you're anxious, depressed, confused? Want an alternative? A dose of real?
Go to sea. 

Live

Let go desire and want and live in the moment, says the Buddha. Good advice amidst the disorienting, anxiety provoking, cacophony of shallow human constructs in this 'modern' age. 'Success’, ‘power’, money, ‘prestige’, religion, nation - all human invention, none of them real. All of them tickets for a chance to grab the imaginary brass ring of ‘happiness’, forever just out of reach. Round and round we go. 

Shame we are not wired to live just in the moment. Buddhism then, just another drug to help us tolerate the intolerable - our shallow constructs - our 'modern world'. 

So much of human construct is based in myth and make believe. Invented for social cohesiveness in an age of short, difficult, lives, thousands of years ago, most have seen their day - especially in light of the destructive potential  of our modern-day technology. Almost all human constructs are hierarchical, guaranteeing conflict and unnecessary human suffering. 'Success' - we live, we die, we try to be nice along the way. A few create and/or discover truths of our universe. Established to insure societal cohesiveness, it is not real - and as such will never be attained. 'Power' - greed by force. Two dimensional, false, and shallow. Self made kingdoms of ego and greed and an utter waste of time. Money, at once establishing wealth and poverty guaranteeing global suffering, conflict, and environmental harm. 'Prestige' - Pompous after thought invented by the untalented who lay partial claim to the work of geniuses, who had no time for it. Religion - a focal point of intolerance and hatred. How many have perished in battles over which god and which followers are best? How much hatred in the name of 'god'? How much harm? Nation - us versus them with an emphasis on us - despite sharing just one fragile globe. Unsustainable, and in today's world, pure illusion. 

We must rid ourselves of so much of this. All were once used to hold societies together in an harsh, confusing world. But our understanding of our universe has increased exponentially and with it the need for myth, magic, money, and make believe, gone. What has held society together for millennia now promises to destroy us. We must move away from these self-invented constructs, not by blocking them out in moments of mindfulness, but rather by evolving past them.

 

But if we discard human construct where would we be? We need focus, reference points, goals, or we go insane.

Imagine a simple rose. Nature has taken soil, water, sunlight, and air and turned it into a rose. Right there in front of you – a miracle. Soft scented petals just days before atoms of atmosphere and dirt. Ancient atoms now arranged to simple perfection. All around you, ancient atoms arranged into everything there is, as ancient atoms were arranged into you. You, as the rose, are every bit a part of the immense complexity of breath taking beauty that is this universe. Parts of a whole drifting through space-time as does the sun, blades of grass, entire galaxies, dew on a petal – as does everything - as do you.

Close your eyes. You live on a planet that spins at 1,000 mph on its axis, 90 million miles from the sun - a continual thermonuclear explosion a million times earth’s size. Say hello to our ancient companion the moon as it circles us in a perfectly locked orbit 200,000 miles away. Know that our sun, with us in tow, is in orbit around our galaxy, a grouping of 100 billion other suns 100,000 lights years across. Trillions upon trillions of miles across. And within its spiral arms trillions upon trillions of ancient atoms – arranged and scattered and arranged yet again over billions of years. Trees and sky and stars and galaxies and atoms and quarks and you. This, your reality. 

Focus on that. Know that. Live that. Belong to that. Reference yourself to space-time, to reality, and live. Learn your reality, let go useless human construct, and live.

 

2020

I suppose I begin with the assumption that fundamental change is desperately needed. 

I do believe income inequality and the shrinking of the middle class is real and that it's due to a rigged system. Washington is paralyzed, ineffective, corrupt - primarily due to campaign finance law and structure, and special interest lobbying. Our government is the best money can buy - paid for almost entirely by less than 400 families that possess incredible wealth and power. 

And I do think we are dangerously close to corporatism - a form of fascism. At the least we do not have a system that can effectively deal with long range problems not centered on profit and consumerism - i.e. global warming, pandemics, automation and job loss.

I see nothing new this election - in a time that demands change - deep fundamental change. Anything is better than Trump is true, but misleading. The depth of corruption and the numbers of those compromised in congress by our enemies is not being factored in or really addressed.

But even if we somehow rid ourselves of Trump and McConnell and his clones, the system is so broken, so corrupt, the nation so polarized and misinformed, that we are not going to be able to effectively address our growing existential threats - no matter who is president. Witness our failures with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. 

As Mueller and the senate have shown – no one is going to swoop in and save us. We must stop looking for a savoir, and save ourselves. But that would take a social uprising the likes of which this country has never seen.

Unfortunately, we are unlikely to see it now.

Generations

Your parents start the lies.
Your teachers fill them in.
Gossip and the media put a fine finish on them.
You live your entire life only to discover, too late, that it’s all a lie.

Repeat.

God Bless America

Society frays and begins to crumble as the world begins to burn. Drill baby drill.

McConnell’s new fascism - greedy, arrogant, ignorant.

Putin’s fat, narcissistic, utterly broken - President Agent Orange.

Reality TV standing in for reality. Make America Stupid.

A shadowy military industrial complex of corruption. Its tentacles creeping into every community in the country, even as it blows babies to bits - wherever blowing babies to bits doesn't matter - for profit and ‘power’.

Sadistic, racist, bastards abusing people desperate enough to walk 2000 miles to our border to ask us for a little help. A chance at a better life. How dare they. How dare they be brown, poor, desperate, and still approach US. We, who have everything.

Citizens United - a mockery of democracy and a monument to fascism. Scalia dies in a five star resort all paid for by fascist greed and corruption. And so goes the country.

Greasy, ignorant, self-consumed, selfish, fearful, ‘low information voters’.

God bless America.