Basic Material Needs and Violence

Why does mass violence and war erupt in 3rd world countries?

We don’t resort to violence in the west because we have much more to lose than just our lives. We are attached to so much; our families, our homes, our cars, our shopping sprees, our nice restaurants, our way of life.

When your way of life consists of constant discomfort, perpetual hunger, threats of life-ending disease, and rape and threats of death, you are willing to lose a lot more in order to gain another day of life and security and fleeting comfort or respite from hunger.

And in a strange kind of way and through some twisted logic, I feel these people may be more alive than most of us will ever be.

I’m just a virtual construct in a virtually constructed world.

“So from a scientific perspective, neither objective reality nor virtual reality is proven. And what is happening is that modern physics with things like time dilation and space contraction, teleportation, multi-existence and so on, seem actually more supportive of a virtual reality universe than an objective reality one.”

Maybe we’re all just virtual constructs of our souls, playing a game where we cannot break the speed of light or defy gravity, but have anomalies like UFOs and angels and anything else that goes against the programming rules of the “universe.”

Hell, at one time, my theory of LOST was that they were all trapped in virtual reality simulation.

Index Card Introspection

I bought some index cards in the hopes that I would use them to outline my novel and nail-down the characters and their roles toward the plot and some other writer tricks I had seen or read about. That was almost a year ago.

I still have no novel.

The index cards, up until last week, were still in their plastic wrapping all shiny and new.

I was thinking about the 10 non-virtues of Buddhism and how I have not avoided them to some degree or another, either now or in the past, despite my great work. I was going through the catalog of my shortcomings and seeing how my ego and limited points-of-view had stressed the many parts of my life and I want to make things better, not only for me, but for everyone around me. I could see how I was unintentionally, or at least subconsciously poisoning my environment and adding to my karma. Karma will drag you down.

Karma is like credit card debt; it keeps piling up and making things harder for you in the long run.

So I was uncluttering my go-bag and came across the index cards and thoguht they could be useful to document my shortcomings and show a way for me to stop hurting myself and other people. I started writing what it was I did wrong. I had to step outside of all of the chatter in my head that was saying, “Hey, its OK to do this, after all YOU deserve this, or THEY deserve that, or its NOT HURTING ANYONE THAT MUCH anyway.”

I went through about twenty cards, all filled on one side with the things in my life that did not really benefit anyone at all, let alone myself.

After I reread the cards a couple of times and meditated on how I could make things right, I started to turn the cards over and write what I would do or how I would approach the karma or suffering or shortcomings in my life. Positives for negatives. I was balancing the equation that is myself. I was going to make things better and since then I’ve been feeling good and catching myself before I open my mouth to speak harshly or thinking to judge without compassion.

And you know what?

I’ve been feeling really good. Things are getting better.

Sci-Fi is Going to Eat Your Literary Lunch

Someone finally comes out and says it for the world to hear: Sci-Fi is important.

Dune, The Left Hand of Darkness, Perdido Street Station, Pattern Recognition, The Fountains of Paradise, etc. All important works of literature that ask tough questions about society, culture, government, economics, psychology and sex.

Now go out and get yourself some Sci-Fi!

2001: A Space Odyssey

I love 2001: A Space Odyssey because it is a mystery and a moving painting. It is cinema and sci fi as art.

The first time I saw the movie I watched it when I was nine years old. I don’t know why, but I was enthralled form the first shot and loved watching a movie with no words for such a long periods of time.

I think I am a weirdo.

If you’ve ever wondered just what the hell Kubrick was trying to say in 2001, check out this site that attempts to explain the movie’s message.

And if you like 2001: A Space Odyssey, then you should check out Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain.

Parasite Changes Host Into Desirable Food to Further Its Own Survival

Presumably, the dramatic change in appearance and behavior tricks birds into eating infected ants – parasites and all – so that the bird can spread the parasite in its feces. The fruit-eating birds’ droppings, which are mostly seeds and insect parts, are gathered by other ants who then feed and unwittingly infect their young.

I was wondering; what if we were a parasitic organism placed on this planet to transform it into something else?

What if our destruction/transformation of our environment was engineered by some other unknown system/entity to make us ore the earth something else that was desired by said unknown system/entity ?

The Presence of a Baby

My son sits in his bouncy seat. He is only two months old. He cannot speak, except in goohs and gahs which are attempts at English, but he does one thing that fascinates me: He stares at things for long periods of time and is completely fascinated by them.

He stares at the fan as it turns high above him or the lamp as light emanates from its bulb and bathes the room in coll and spooky red glow from the red lampshade covering the light source. He stares and is completely intent on just knowing that one thing. There is no multitasking (a term I hate) or preoocupation with the television, there is only my son’s perfect concentration on one thing.

My son is so Zen and I am so not, except for when I hold him and only see the child I wish to regain within myself, the pure being void of social constructs about being a man or breadwinner or a jock or geek or leader or a slave.

I want to meditate on these things, on the innocence of children and the perfect focus of a baby. If only I could forget everything I know that hinders me from seeing the truth, from seeing myself and other things as they truly are, then maybe I could be a better person and a more effective catalyst for change and more productive artist and worker.