I think it is safe to say that there are two things that art and porn have in common. They can both be hard to define. It’s more a “you knows it when you sees it” kind of thing. The other commonality is that Skrivarn likes 'em both. There’s nothing like sharing a little art with a loved one. But, if push comes to shove, art can also be appreciated as a private endeavor.
In thinking about art, I often wonder if there is a line that demarcates where a dabbler ends and an artist begins. Was that an artist who brought home the perfectly proportioned stick figure, wide eyes looking for approval behind paper canvas? How far a gulf betwixt this and the practiced hand finding creative expression, reaching toward a chapel dome? Is there truly some genius that resides in the eye and hand, able to find escape for the perfectly formed David from his marble cage? Are these kin to the common man? Or, are they alien strangers, wandering amidst a great sea of banality? Methinks there is a spark, the exact abode, I cannot tell, that reaches beyond simple rearranging of the knick-knacks of life. There is an expulsion from human lips, which grants the seeds to inanimate form, bringing it to life. Not everyone has the fecund touch. There is much emptiness in the history of human endeavor. Many are those who play at life, but few who know to live it. Rare is the true new voice…a vision…and the ability to cast new shadows in the light of daily life.
I cannot write of something so universal without acknowledging that I simply opine. The subjectivity of the topic at hand refuses to be defined by one mere mind. I have, however, come to a few thoughts as to what I believe makes one an artist. Traits that, while describing a cornucopia of individuality, seem to be found in all who ply their artistic trade. I think that all who are artists are primarily exhibitionists. They seem unhindered by false modesty, and are willing to skip unheedingly through the market, unclothed, unbothered by the fact they display rebounding balls or undulating breast. They have the unabashed audacity to cry out, “See me now! Look! Feel! Hear! See what my hands have wrought!” A man is never more a god than when he performs that which he knows is approaching excellence. An artist is not apologetic. There is no need to be told of his greatness. He knows. It seems to me that one is doing art when busy doing the one thing they know they do well…the one arena where all systems are go. The one place where they are totally, and absolutely in no doubt that this is what they were meant to do. They are fish that have found their stream. Lucky is the one who has found such waters in which to plunge. An artist’s work energizes, rather than depletes. It gives life and strength.
An artist does not really solicit opinion. Sure, it’s nice to receive praise and accolades; but, there is no need to ask, “Do you think this is good”. If you are working in the proper forum, you know.
An artist is one who is in touch with an inner muse. The notes often seem to float from the instrument, with no conscious control or design. Have you ever heard words flow through your mouth, hearing them, for the first time, along with whoever else may be in audience? If so, you know exactly what I mean. There is genius, in the true sense of the word, at work.
I can only assume that there are many cases of unrealized potential; for the artist also knows the hours of toil that go into honing his or her craft. Much is the time spent with muted guitar, a page scrawled with undisciplined word and the agonizing fall of a dancer, yet to be. Hard work is the price to hear the siren call of possible success. Toil spent with no guarantee that you may turn out to be no more than a paint-by-number drawing hobbyist. Chance plays no part in brilliance; but it is most undeniably a large gamble. Just because you have felt your mind immersed in brilliant song does not mean you will necessarily a songbird be. But, without the chiseled practiced frame, made possible only by sweat, sinew and travail, the muse is fully without means. An instantaneous flash of brilliance will only follow the practice of hard discipline. The natural born can, indeed, become the stillborn.
Finally, the artist is practiced in the art of love. Each song is a whisper in the intended’s ear. Hands caress the clay or stone. Each visual delight an orgasm of color and hew. The artist exults as she performs her preferred dance. The audience invited to join in the intermingling of sensation. The back and forth rocking of inner being, birthing a new idea…a new way to see…a passing of the fire, igniting the imagination of a newly awakened artisan.
Now…where did I put those crayons?
mandag 16. august 2010
Responsibilty.
As you drive your car, I wonder if you have considered the importance of the linchpin. The linchpin is what keeps the wheels from falling off of your car as you speed down the highway. The operating system in your automobile is complex; but, without the linchpin, you would not get very far.
I consider responsibility to be the linchpin of the satanic philosophy. Do not make the mistake of turning that statement into an absolute. Some may disagree; but, as I think over issues that have come up, in regards to Satanism, I would wager that 90% of the time, the concept of responsibility is overlooked.
There is the asking of questions that are answered in “The Satanic Bible”. This book can easily be read in one sitting…especially if someone already considers himself or herself a Satanist, which many seem to do without the benefit of reading this core text. This is not a difficult book to understand. If there is a question about the basics of this religion, and whether or not it describes the reader, it is answered.
Once this core text is read, there are several other books written by Anton LaVey that covers a myriad of subjects. Lest one is concerned that modernity poses a problem, our present High Priest has also added to this list, with essays covering issues of contemporary import.
But even beyond that, I am espousing a radical sense of responsibility for oneself. Often, I see people place themselves in the hands of others, whether it is doctors, lawyers or supposed experts in any field, without educating themselves with concerns of personal import. I have yet to deal with a professional when I have not had to intervene on my own behalf…and I am happy to do that. This is me I am talking about. The only person who is responsible for seeing that any and all of my needs are met is myself. Anyone else I involve is a facilitator.
Every Satanist should have an invisible sign on their forehead that reads “the buck stops here”. There is no need to complain about what someone else has not done. If it concerns you, it is your responsibility to see that it is done. If the person you have hired to do a specialized task is not performing, fire them.
This also involves the issue of authority. Who legitimizes the right of you to exercise power in your life? You do. When someone declares himself or herself a Satanist, they are stating that they the God of their life. That is not simply metaphor. They claim full responsibility for themselves, and they claim to be the authority over themselves.
Part of authority is authorship. It assumes a generative power. That is, it indicates the power to generate or produce something. The question of genetics often comes up when discussing Satanism. I deny that there are genetic indicators for Satanism. Genetics determines my physical build, my health and even my personality. But Satanism goes to the essence of who I am. I am totally responsible for that. I have the power to decide on what choices I make and my actions and reactions; and, in doing so I create whom I am. I propose that it is that willingness and ability to be responsible for who we are and what we become that is at the heart of what it means when we say that Satanists are born. Very few are ready, willing or able to do that.
Enough with toying with the peripherals of what it is to be a Satanist. That is child’s play. Satanism is about being a grown up. It is about making our own decisions, for our own reasons. And it is about accepting the authority to make our lives what we want them to be…and being responsible for the results.
I consider responsibility to be the linchpin of the satanic philosophy. Do not make the mistake of turning that statement into an absolute. Some may disagree; but, as I think over issues that have come up, in regards to Satanism, I would wager that 90% of the time, the concept of responsibility is overlooked.
There is the asking of questions that are answered in “The Satanic Bible”. This book can easily be read in one sitting…especially if someone already considers himself or herself a Satanist, which many seem to do without the benefit of reading this core text. This is not a difficult book to understand. If there is a question about the basics of this religion, and whether or not it describes the reader, it is answered.
Once this core text is read, there are several other books written by Anton LaVey that covers a myriad of subjects. Lest one is concerned that modernity poses a problem, our present High Priest has also added to this list, with essays covering issues of contemporary import.
But even beyond that, I am espousing a radical sense of responsibility for oneself. Often, I see people place themselves in the hands of others, whether it is doctors, lawyers or supposed experts in any field, without educating themselves with concerns of personal import. I have yet to deal with a professional when I have not had to intervene on my own behalf…and I am happy to do that. This is me I am talking about. The only person who is responsible for seeing that any and all of my needs are met is myself. Anyone else I involve is a facilitator.
Every Satanist should have an invisible sign on their forehead that reads “the buck stops here”. There is no need to complain about what someone else has not done. If it concerns you, it is your responsibility to see that it is done. If the person you have hired to do a specialized task is not performing, fire them.
This also involves the issue of authority. Who legitimizes the right of you to exercise power in your life? You do. When someone declares himself or herself a Satanist, they are stating that they the God of their life. That is not simply metaphor. They claim full responsibility for themselves, and they claim to be the authority over themselves.
Part of authority is authorship. It assumes a generative power. That is, it indicates the power to generate or produce something. The question of genetics often comes up when discussing Satanism. I deny that there are genetic indicators for Satanism. Genetics determines my physical build, my health and even my personality. But Satanism goes to the essence of who I am. I am totally responsible for that. I have the power to decide on what choices I make and my actions and reactions; and, in doing so I create whom I am. I propose that it is that willingness and ability to be responsible for who we are and what we become that is at the heart of what it means when we say that Satanists are born. Very few are ready, willing or able to do that.
Enough with toying with the peripherals of what it is to be a Satanist. That is child’s play. Satanism is about being a grown up. It is about making our own decisions, for our own reasons. And it is about accepting the authority to make our lives what we want them to be…and being responsible for the results.
torsdag 1. juli 2010
Climbing Onto Wagons
One English translation for the opening of Dante’s Inferno: Canto 1 goes:
“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
We are to think that Dante was thirty-five when his “Divine Comedy” begins. I can very much relate to that. I, too, was “midway upon my journey of life” when I awoke, as it were, and realized that I had been lying flat on my ass for quite some time. Of course, Dante would be appalled to know
that his words reflect my life entry into a certain philosophy. That matters not, really; because, I believe we all find ourselves being roused at some point, to the realization that we are getting nowhere, and quite quickly, I might add. I liken the experience to being on a wagon. Imagine the wagons steered by those brave adventurers into the wild western frontier of the early States.
Imagine traveling for weeks, when suddenly…you realize that you are going in the wrong direction. What do you do? One choice may be to continue on your journey, and let the fates…or the Wagoner…take you where they may. A choice that may actually be more difficult would be to admit that you are on the wrong wagon, and disembark. This may mean trying to figure out where to catch a wagon going in the direction you want to go.
It can be difficult admitting that you were wrong. The more one has invested in a particular trip, the harder it can be to jump off the wagon. Believe me, I know. My wagon had gone far until, midway upon the journey of my life; I realized I saw no light where others seemed illumined. Though the path was called straight, I was, to use a strange phrase, lost. I know the strength it takes to stop a moving force, and change directions. I also know what it is to jump off that misguided wagon, just to lie in wait.
The biggest obstacle to beginning any new adventure is habit. Making that first step is critical. And even if one finds their proper route, they may nap, and find themselves falling off the back of that wagon. Never mind. Pick yourself up, brush off the dust, and make headway to make up the distance lost.
It is very easy for anyone, at any age, to believe that it is too late to start over. Poppycock. There are some who may not feel as much a citizen of the Infernal Empire as those who joined while young. They may assume that their late arrival makes them less welcome. The truth is, the party is just getting started. You got here just in time. Some may feel that they are unable to invest the time necessary to receive a worthwhile payoff. You will get out what you put in, plus interest. Don’t think that just because you have only invested one year, you will never get “as far” as someone who has invested thirty, or thirty-five or forty. Each person has to begin at his or her own beginning. As corny as this may sound, it is still true: It pays to put the past behind.
There is no shame in admitting that one is wrong. Everyone has to do that from time to time. I feel no guilt over the fact that I was certainly in the crapper for a period of life. I learned from my experiences.
“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
We are to think that Dante was thirty-five when his “Divine Comedy” begins. I can very much relate to that. I, too, was “midway upon my journey of life” when I awoke, as it were, and realized that I had been lying flat on my ass for quite some time. Of course, Dante would be appalled to know
that his words reflect my life entry into a certain philosophy. That matters not, really; because, I believe we all find ourselves being roused at some point, to the realization that we are getting nowhere, and quite quickly, I might add. I liken the experience to being on a wagon. Imagine the wagons steered by those brave adventurers into the wild western frontier of the early States.
Imagine traveling for weeks, when suddenly…you realize that you are going in the wrong direction. What do you do? One choice may be to continue on your journey, and let the fates…or the Wagoner…take you where they may. A choice that may actually be more difficult would be to admit that you are on the wrong wagon, and disembark. This may mean trying to figure out where to catch a wagon going in the direction you want to go.
It can be difficult admitting that you were wrong. The more one has invested in a particular trip, the harder it can be to jump off the wagon. Believe me, I know. My wagon had gone far until, midway upon the journey of my life; I realized I saw no light where others seemed illumined. Though the path was called straight, I was, to use a strange phrase, lost. I know the strength it takes to stop a moving force, and change directions. I also know what it is to jump off that misguided wagon, just to lie in wait.
The biggest obstacle to beginning any new adventure is habit. Making that first step is critical. And even if one finds their proper route, they may nap, and find themselves falling off the back of that wagon. Never mind. Pick yourself up, brush off the dust, and make headway to make up the distance lost.
It is very easy for anyone, at any age, to believe that it is too late to start over. Poppycock. There are some who may not feel as much a citizen of the Infernal Empire as those who joined while young. They may assume that their late arrival makes them less welcome. The truth is, the party is just getting started. You got here just in time. Some may feel that they are unable to invest the time necessary to receive a worthwhile payoff. You will get out what you put in, plus interest. Don’t think that just because you have only invested one year, you will never get “as far” as someone who has invested thirty, or thirty-five or forty. Each person has to begin at his or her own beginning. As corny as this may sound, it is still true: It pays to put the past behind.
There is no shame in admitting that one is wrong. Everyone has to do that from time to time. I feel no guilt over the fact that I was certainly in the crapper for a period of life. I learned from my experiences.
tirsdag 11. mai 2010
The Most Generous Person in the World...
...Is the Slut.
The Slut is the most generous person in the world. They give you far more sensation than your own body could produce on its own, and for free! Sure, they may be getting something in return- if you’re any good that is- but they offer it without any hesitation. With this in mind, the Slut should be an icon in the spiritual world.
It is no wonder why the most devoted Christians are usually the most promiscuous- it is a virtue, a “twisted” view of generosity confused with their own desires. They are imitating the God given role that the mother and father of all humans was charged with- to be fruitful and multiply. It just so happens that now instead of multiplying our species (though most of them are) they are multiplying the good nature that comes with a good orgasm. We of course all know that Sluts, for practice makes perfect in most cases, are very good in bed.
They are always picked for conversation in a social gathering (though just about everyone will deny that this is the reason), they are always charming, polite, and fair; for it is in their nature to be giving. They make the men Gods to other men, and the women feel better about themselves for being so classy (classy is just a synonym for boring); classy and gods can be exchanged depending on the gender and their orientation of course
The Slut is also always the best looking, always making sure for wherever surroundings they grace, they looks to the top aesthetic of the arena they’re in. It may not be the top fashion, but goddamn if they’re not the best looking, or at least the most alluring of all the other people.
The old adage “no good deed goes unpunished” also fits very well with the Slut. Always mocked and ridiculed, they have had a scarlet “A” indented on their forehead and arm. Generously giving their most intimate embrace and are alienated for it. They are the truly meek, always the down trotted. I’m sure they have the best looking crowns in heaven; in the old testament days they were stoned to death, true martyrs. Also, it would be well to note that the Slut is very ego-strong, no matter how much they are beaten down they go on with their natural mission- to please anyone that offers or they accept into their loins. Truly courageous people to face adversity every day with every breath, they proclaim: “you will not get me down! I will do who I wish!”
The Slut truly is the most generous person in the world, they never stop giving, and they even give things given to them from other people, diseases. They give their most intimate parts of themselves, they give their energy, their passions, their lust and love, they share secrets of their bedroom desires, and they never stop, they never stop giving what has been given, never stop offering themselves up to the rest of the world with their motto planted firmly upon their lips since the day God sent them down from Heaven: “Take what you wish, I am all to give and be given...”
The Slut is the most generous person in the world. They give you far more sensation than your own body could produce on its own, and for free! Sure, they may be getting something in return- if you’re any good that is- but they offer it without any hesitation. With this in mind, the Slut should be an icon in the spiritual world.
It is no wonder why the most devoted Christians are usually the most promiscuous- it is a virtue, a “twisted” view of generosity confused with their own desires. They are imitating the God given role that the mother and father of all humans was charged with- to be fruitful and multiply. It just so happens that now instead of multiplying our species (though most of them are) they are multiplying the good nature that comes with a good orgasm. We of course all know that Sluts, for practice makes perfect in most cases, are very good in bed.
They are always picked for conversation in a social gathering (though just about everyone will deny that this is the reason), they are always charming, polite, and fair; for it is in their nature to be giving. They make the men Gods to other men, and the women feel better about themselves for being so classy (classy is just a synonym for boring); classy and gods can be exchanged depending on the gender and their orientation of course
The Slut is also always the best looking, always making sure for wherever surroundings they grace, they looks to the top aesthetic of the arena they’re in. It may not be the top fashion, but goddamn if they’re not the best looking, or at least the most alluring of all the other people.
The old adage “no good deed goes unpunished” also fits very well with the Slut. Always mocked and ridiculed, they have had a scarlet “A” indented on their forehead and arm. Generously giving their most intimate embrace and are alienated for it. They are the truly meek, always the down trotted. I’m sure they have the best looking crowns in heaven; in the old testament days they were stoned to death, true martyrs. Also, it would be well to note that the Slut is very ego-strong, no matter how much they are beaten down they go on with their natural mission- to please anyone that offers or they accept into their loins. Truly courageous people to face adversity every day with every breath, they proclaim: “you will not get me down! I will do who I wish!”
The Slut truly is the most generous person in the world, they never stop giving, and they even give things given to them from other people, diseases. They give their most intimate parts of themselves, they give their energy, their passions, their lust and love, they share secrets of their bedroom desires, and they never stop, they never stop giving what has been given, never stop offering themselves up to the rest of the world with their motto planted firmly upon their lips since the day God sent them down from Heaven: “Take what you wish, I am all to give and be given...”
lørdag 20. februar 2010
Are You Full Of It?
I am often reminded of a movie I saw some time ago called Pleasantville. A brother and sister were transported into a black and white sit-com where everyone was just that: pleasant. This drab world worked fine for the brother, but it drove the sister nuts. She had a bit of an edge to her, and she had no problem exploring realms such as sexuality, rebellion and other feelings that just did not fit in with this drab, black and white world. In time, others began to see that they needed more out of life than pleasantness. As individuals explored the hidden aspects of themselves, they became colored. This scared the drab grays, and chaos ensued.
I think about that movie because I am convinced that the vast majority of people I run in to are really gray, with no color. Whether it is because they do not want to make waves, because they are afraid of appearing different or they are just as shallow as they appear, most people are not colorful. They have little emotional depth, emotional range, and, saddest of all, little life. I much prefer the colorful, interesting and often chaotic company of people who are full of it! I like people who are full of emotion, full of passion; and, most importantly, full of life. I really have no time for people who are afraid of living. I detest the repressed, those willing to allow parts of themselves to atrophy.
People will often ask if having a certain thought or feeling is normal, or okay or satanic. The truth is, any thought, or feeling or urge anyone feels is normal. Trying to deny our nature will not only make our lives colorless and lifeless, it will also turn people into compulsive drones, slaves. A full spectrum life will run the gamut from love, passion, hatred, murderous rage, prejudice, judgmental discrimination, compassion, callousness and everything in between. All of these are normal.
Our responsibility is how we act on these urges. Life is the great indulgence, the grand party, and the smorgasbord of experiences. But the only way the plane can stay airborne is if there is an equally long wing of responsibility. Being full of life is not a free for all. It is responsible indulgence. And part of being responsible is finding ways to act on all of these urges without getting ourselves into trouble. Anything less will bring it down with a big crash.
I want to repeat that. There is no thought; urge or feeling that you experience that is not normal or healthy. Be we are each responsible for how act on those thoughts. If you are looking for a place to hang out with fellow malcontents, you are not a Satanist, I am happy to say. If you want a ticket to act irresponsibly, Satanism is not for you. If you have nothing more to offer than your dark soul that bleeds because no one understands you, and you think we do, you are mistaken. Satanists are people who love life. Satanists are people who are full of life. Satanists are people who do not cut off feelings that others do not know how to handle properly. In short, Satanists are full of it! We are full of life, love, hate, lust, greed, anger, joy; the whole kit and caboodle.
Being full of it, full of life, is being able to love with great passion and to hate with equal vehemence. Being full of it is being true to your tribe while being discriminating. That is right. A Satanist does not waste time trying to be convinced that it is wrong to judge people. We freely discriminate against those who have nothing to offer us but lifeless company.
Satanism is the affirmation of life lived to the fullest. Satanists are full of it. So, what will it be? Is yours a life wasted in Pleasantville, or being full of it? A gray life, or a life filled with brilliant color. Do you live a pseudo-life of repression, or the responsible indulgence of each and every urge that makes us human? If you are a Satanist, you are full of it.
I think about that movie because I am convinced that the vast majority of people I run in to are really gray, with no color. Whether it is because they do not want to make waves, because they are afraid of appearing different or they are just as shallow as they appear, most people are not colorful. They have little emotional depth, emotional range, and, saddest of all, little life. I much prefer the colorful, interesting and often chaotic company of people who are full of it! I like people who are full of emotion, full of passion; and, most importantly, full of life. I really have no time for people who are afraid of living. I detest the repressed, those willing to allow parts of themselves to atrophy.
People will often ask if having a certain thought or feeling is normal, or okay or satanic. The truth is, any thought, or feeling or urge anyone feels is normal. Trying to deny our nature will not only make our lives colorless and lifeless, it will also turn people into compulsive drones, slaves. A full spectrum life will run the gamut from love, passion, hatred, murderous rage, prejudice, judgmental discrimination, compassion, callousness and everything in between. All of these are normal.
Our responsibility is how we act on these urges. Life is the great indulgence, the grand party, and the smorgasbord of experiences. But the only way the plane can stay airborne is if there is an equally long wing of responsibility. Being full of life is not a free for all. It is responsible indulgence. And part of being responsible is finding ways to act on all of these urges without getting ourselves into trouble. Anything less will bring it down with a big crash.
I want to repeat that. There is no thought; urge or feeling that you experience that is not normal or healthy. Be we are each responsible for how act on those thoughts. If you are looking for a place to hang out with fellow malcontents, you are not a Satanist, I am happy to say. If you want a ticket to act irresponsibly, Satanism is not for you. If you have nothing more to offer than your dark soul that bleeds because no one understands you, and you think we do, you are mistaken. Satanists are people who love life. Satanists are people who are full of life. Satanists are people who do not cut off feelings that others do not know how to handle properly. In short, Satanists are full of it! We are full of life, love, hate, lust, greed, anger, joy; the whole kit and caboodle.
Being full of it, full of life, is being able to love with great passion and to hate with equal vehemence. Being full of it is being true to your tribe while being discriminating. That is right. A Satanist does not waste time trying to be convinced that it is wrong to judge people. We freely discriminate against those who have nothing to offer us but lifeless company.
Satanism is the affirmation of life lived to the fullest. Satanists are full of it. So, what will it be? Is yours a life wasted in Pleasantville, or being full of it? A gray life, or a life filled with brilliant color. Do you live a pseudo-life of repression, or the responsible indulgence of each and every urge that makes us human? If you are a Satanist, you are full of it.
tirsdag 2. februar 2010
No Man Is An Island.
Perhaps man’s greatest fear is absolute isolation.
From the moment of conception, another perpetually surrounded each of us. As infants, if we were lucky, we were engulfed in some form of nurture.
If a child’s development is observed, one will see that the young move from focusing on individual parts of the mother’s body…breast, eyes, mouth…to the face, finally taking in the whole of the mother’s physical presence. Perhaps this is the moment when we begin to grasp that there are others in the world beside ourselves.
Due to the magic of mental projection, many of us are able to lead lives of relative isolation, not just comfortably, but preferably. As long as we have our thoughts, we never experience a sense of loneliness. As the old saying goes, I prefer talking to myself because I enjoy the company.
However, there are those times when all of us, no matter how committed to the luxury of hermitage, need the physical presence of another being. There will be moments of such duress that the maxim will win out, no man is an island.
I am fortunate that I have, in my life, someone who is able to offer solace at such times. My hope is that the law of reciprocity is at work in that particular relationship. I know that it can often be challenging for both involved, as, quite often, the same storm is battering the edges of their respective sanities.
I wish to make one thing abundantly clear…there is no reason to assume that said object of fortification has to be a member of the same species. Let me repeat that…there is no sound reason to conclude that the one, or ones, who help you ride out the storm, must be human. In fact, on many occasions, humans make the worst companions.
There is a reason for that. Humans have the annoying habit of verbalizing their emotions. Of course, one by-product of that idiosyncrasy is the existence of the arts. Indeed, you would not be reading this very essay if that were not the case. But, research has borne that Homo sapiens does not corner the market on art appreciation. Bears can be observed enjoying nature’s great masterpiece, “The Sunset”. Indeed, birds sing, and even arrange objects in a kind of home makeover project, if you will.
But, the greatest asset of a non-human companion is their ability to express their concern, love and care in the deeper, more primitive form of communication that post-infants often forget…physical communication. Life comes full circle when face to face with kitten or pup, as it focuses on individual parts of its caregiver’s body…the hand, the eye, the mouth. This is followed up by the wonder of the sloppy lick, the drool-laden nuzzle and nature’s sweetest symphony…Purr, in D minor.
It is a wise person who is careful to surround his or herself with companions, holding at bay our greatest fear…absolute isolation. Hats off to these true friends, human, and non-human alike.
From the moment of conception, another perpetually surrounded each of us. As infants, if we were lucky, we were engulfed in some form of nurture.
If a child’s development is observed, one will see that the young move from focusing on individual parts of the mother’s body…breast, eyes, mouth…to the face, finally taking in the whole of the mother’s physical presence. Perhaps this is the moment when we begin to grasp that there are others in the world beside ourselves.
Due to the magic of mental projection, many of us are able to lead lives of relative isolation, not just comfortably, but preferably. As long as we have our thoughts, we never experience a sense of loneliness. As the old saying goes, I prefer talking to myself because I enjoy the company.
However, there are those times when all of us, no matter how committed to the luxury of hermitage, need the physical presence of another being. There will be moments of such duress that the maxim will win out, no man is an island.
I am fortunate that I have, in my life, someone who is able to offer solace at such times. My hope is that the law of reciprocity is at work in that particular relationship. I know that it can often be challenging for both involved, as, quite often, the same storm is battering the edges of their respective sanities.
I wish to make one thing abundantly clear…there is no reason to assume that said object of fortification has to be a member of the same species. Let me repeat that…there is no sound reason to conclude that the one, or ones, who help you ride out the storm, must be human. In fact, on many occasions, humans make the worst companions.
There is a reason for that. Humans have the annoying habit of verbalizing their emotions. Of course, one by-product of that idiosyncrasy is the existence of the arts. Indeed, you would not be reading this very essay if that were not the case. But, research has borne that Homo sapiens does not corner the market on art appreciation. Bears can be observed enjoying nature’s great masterpiece, “The Sunset”. Indeed, birds sing, and even arrange objects in a kind of home makeover project, if you will.
But, the greatest asset of a non-human companion is their ability to express their concern, love and care in the deeper, more primitive form of communication that post-infants often forget…physical communication. Life comes full circle when face to face with kitten or pup, as it focuses on individual parts of its caregiver’s body…the hand, the eye, the mouth. This is followed up by the wonder of the sloppy lick, the drool-laden nuzzle and nature’s sweetest symphony…Purr, in D minor.
It is a wise person who is careful to surround his or herself with companions, holding at bay our greatest fear…absolute isolation. Hats off to these true friends, human, and non-human alike.
mandag 18. januar 2010
Compassion.
Once upon a time, millions of years ago, the planet Earth was teaming with life. From the point of view of the Universe, that was not so long ago. Lush greenery came, only to be overcome by desert, only to be overcome by plant life, etc., etc.
The predominant varieties of animal life were dinosaurian, reptilian and avian. Over time, a small mammalian creature evolved. Living on the fruits of such a lush planet, they quickly grew more numerous. The other families of animal did not yet have anything to worry about. In fact, the more carnivorous among them found this newcomer to be quite tasty. But, the mammals were sneaky.
Over time, due partly to the great number of descendants of our shrew-like friends, stressing the local food supply, and partly from the natural ebb and flow of weather patterns on this planet, the mammal neighborhood began to take on a desert form. It soon became obvious that they would have to venture out, and find greener pastures. They knew that the only way they would survive was if they stuck together, and crossed a great desert, a vast expanse of dry, cracked land, to what they hoped would be another garden they could call home. So, our friends prepared by eating large amounts of food, drinking as much as they could and conserving their energy for the fateful trek.
The time finally came to make their move. At first, each and every one was as robust as they had ever been; but, over time, it became abundantly evident that some were not as strong in constitution. This was hidden by the fact that it was always so easy to get what they needed. Then, it finally happened. Our herd was spotted by a team of hungry, hunting carnivores. They were not the fastest moving, but with patience, they would be able to feast on the flesh of the weaker members that were left behind. Those that escaped could be dealt with on another day. The mammals, smelling danger, moved faster still.
But the carnivorous creatures were in luck; for it seemed that this particular species had a heightened sense of compassion. What caused this particular trait? Perhaps it was a by-product of their size. The need to look out for each other may be what has kept them alive all of these years; but, on this particular day, this trait would prove their undoing. Unwilling to leave any single member behind, the stronger mammals retreated to the back of the line, in order to assist their ailing members. Within a short period, the entire herd was wiped out. This scene played out on enough occasions that this particular species, once destined to evolve to primate, and some of our distinguished dino-scientists have even speculated they may have been able to develop the brain size to perhaps become the dominant species. Imagine that; mammal supremacy.
The above story came to mind after reading Nietzsche. Specifically, his thoughts concerning Christianity being a religion of pity and his idea that compassion runs contrary to human progress. When one thinks about it large amounts of resources are spent on relief programs brought about by the idea that society owes the less fortunate. Imagine if those resources were focused on actual advancement.
As time went on, I began to realize that such a one dimensional view of the subject was caused, partly, by a shallow understanding of what I had read. The context of the ideas developed by Nietzsche is his somewhat peculiar view of pain and suffering. He saw it as the instrument of evolution from man to superman.
The statement on compassion that I read was not a reflection of callous disregard; but, rather, a genuine interest in humanity. To shield a friend, for instance, from his suffering was to deny him the possibility of transcending his present state. He advocated developing a thick skin in order to stop you from showing compassion even for a friend, in the interest of your friend. There seems to be an element of pain inflicted on oneself for the future betterment of all involved. As illustrated in my childish fable, should the friend not be able to find the strength to get back up, going to his aid will only weaken the whole. This concern casts a much different light on the readings.
Feelings of pity and compassion are part of the emotional arsenal we have inherited. Like all emotions, it is healthy to find an appropriate outlet for them.
What is the satanic view on compassion? I do not think hard and fast rules are helpful. There is no one answer. Each situation is unique. In some cases, it seems only obvious that you help the object of your pity. Most would help a child, or elderly person. My personal rule of thumb is to help those who have spent the reserve of their natural abilities. For instance, a learning disabled person would garner my help before an able bodied person who has only put forth a half hearted effort. The actions of each individual would be different.
The bottom, for me, is that any act of compassion comes from my desire to act on the human emotion of pity. It is a self-serving act. I am certainly not open to the constant bombardment from without that would put my compassion button into overdrive. It is that trespass into the emotions of others that find to be most objectionable by religions such as Christianity, and injurious to human progress.
I do not think an act of compassion is unsatanic when it is done as a self-conscious action, bringing some relief or joy to the actor. How that is played out is totally up to the individual, based on temperament.
The predominant varieties of animal life were dinosaurian, reptilian and avian. Over time, a small mammalian creature evolved. Living on the fruits of such a lush planet, they quickly grew more numerous. The other families of animal did not yet have anything to worry about. In fact, the more carnivorous among them found this newcomer to be quite tasty. But, the mammals were sneaky.
Over time, due partly to the great number of descendants of our shrew-like friends, stressing the local food supply, and partly from the natural ebb and flow of weather patterns on this planet, the mammal neighborhood began to take on a desert form. It soon became obvious that they would have to venture out, and find greener pastures. They knew that the only way they would survive was if they stuck together, and crossed a great desert, a vast expanse of dry, cracked land, to what they hoped would be another garden they could call home. So, our friends prepared by eating large amounts of food, drinking as much as they could and conserving their energy for the fateful trek.
The time finally came to make their move. At first, each and every one was as robust as they had ever been; but, over time, it became abundantly evident that some were not as strong in constitution. This was hidden by the fact that it was always so easy to get what they needed. Then, it finally happened. Our herd was spotted by a team of hungry, hunting carnivores. They were not the fastest moving, but with patience, they would be able to feast on the flesh of the weaker members that were left behind. Those that escaped could be dealt with on another day. The mammals, smelling danger, moved faster still.
But the carnivorous creatures were in luck; for it seemed that this particular species had a heightened sense of compassion. What caused this particular trait? Perhaps it was a by-product of their size. The need to look out for each other may be what has kept them alive all of these years; but, on this particular day, this trait would prove their undoing. Unwilling to leave any single member behind, the stronger mammals retreated to the back of the line, in order to assist their ailing members. Within a short period, the entire herd was wiped out. This scene played out on enough occasions that this particular species, once destined to evolve to primate, and some of our distinguished dino-scientists have even speculated they may have been able to develop the brain size to perhaps become the dominant species. Imagine that; mammal supremacy.
The above story came to mind after reading Nietzsche. Specifically, his thoughts concerning Christianity being a religion of pity and his idea that compassion runs contrary to human progress. When one thinks about it large amounts of resources are spent on relief programs brought about by the idea that society owes the less fortunate. Imagine if those resources were focused on actual advancement.
As time went on, I began to realize that such a one dimensional view of the subject was caused, partly, by a shallow understanding of what I had read. The context of the ideas developed by Nietzsche is his somewhat peculiar view of pain and suffering. He saw it as the instrument of evolution from man to superman.
The statement on compassion that I read was not a reflection of callous disregard; but, rather, a genuine interest in humanity. To shield a friend, for instance, from his suffering was to deny him the possibility of transcending his present state. He advocated developing a thick skin in order to stop you from showing compassion even for a friend, in the interest of your friend. There seems to be an element of pain inflicted on oneself for the future betterment of all involved. As illustrated in my childish fable, should the friend not be able to find the strength to get back up, going to his aid will only weaken the whole. This concern casts a much different light on the readings.
Feelings of pity and compassion are part of the emotional arsenal we have inherited. Like all emotions, it is healthy to find an appropriate outlet for them.
What is the satanic view on compassion? I do not think hard and fast rules are helpful. There is no one answer. Each situation is unique. In some cases, it seems only obvious that you help the object of your pity. Most would help a child, or elderly person. My personal rule of thumb is to help those who have spent the reserve of their natural abilities. For instance, a learning disabled person would garner my help before an able bodied person who has only put forth a half hearted effort. The actions of each individual would be different.
The bottom, for me, is that any act of compassion comes from my desire to act on the human emotion of pity. It is a self-serving act. I am certainly not open to the constant bombardment from without that would put my compassion button into overdrive. It is that trespass into the emotions of others that find to be most objectionable by religions such as Christianity, and injurious to human progress.
I do not think an act of compassion is unsatanic when it is done as a self-conscious action, bringing some relief or joy to the actor. How that is played out is totally up to the individual, based on temperament.
torsdag 14. januar 2010
Creatures of habit.
Human beings are creatures of habit. While each person comes in a different size, shape, form, etc., the one common variable is that, no matter what changes or variations may appear, he or she will usually gravitate to the things they are familiar with or are used to.
It is the majority of the herd who are driven by mere impulse, and poor use of judgment. Those who shoot themselves in the foot by making their choices and decisions out of what others are doing, or what is fed to them from the media. Once such non-individuals dig themselves into this rut of a routine, their chances of trying anything different (for their own benefit, as well as the logical decrease of inconvenience) vanish for good.
Think of the many people who travel to large chain retail department stores in December for Xmas shopping. It is because they masochistically put themselves in the situation to want to be stuck in traffic, deal with pitiful drivers, and be cramped up in large crowds. It's because they don't care about wasting gas in a traffic jam, potentially starting fights with others in jammed intersections or condensed parking lots, or even trampling another human being to death just so he or she can get into the store on time for the "10 minute, 10 percent off" sale.
All because it's "something that we've done every single year", or it's "holiday season". Failing to realize that good pre-planning (or better execution of obtaining a list of goods before the big Holiday Rush) can save an abundance of hassle or turmoil is a common flaw of the average herdling creature. They are just driven by the sounds of annual music ringing throughout the airwaves, as well as the commercials on TV complete with glowing lights around the percentage that he/she can save on the latest product (without knowing how much money is actually being spent on what is, usually, a piece of disposable garbage).
Examples are certainly not limited to the previous I've mentioned above. It also carries over into the arenas of food and health as well. Many people will eat anything as long as they're told "it tastes good", without regard of any personal choice or thought in the process. And once he or she is "hooked" on a favorite (addicted should be a better choice of word), then hell forbid if any other options, suggesstions, or changes should come along; if it interferes with their old favorite dish, it will be (most likely) left out by the wayside.
Is being a creature of habit necessarily a bad thing? Well, if you happily realize that your actions are determined by going with the steady flow or engaging in a particular routine without any questions, then no. Keep the habits going steady! Those in any market (be it clothing, entertainment, food/drink, tobacco, etc.) who want nothing more than to take advantage of your habits (as well as burn a hole in your pocket) will be patiently, quietly, yet boldly waiting for your kind to line-up at the front door.
It's not only evident in the places frequented, but also in the styles of clothing worn, activities engaged in, destinations traveled to, the lifestyle and occupation followed, literature read, movies watched, music listened to, food and drink consumed, and people associated with. While many will scream "this is not true", what they forget is that they themselves can hardly ever accept any genuine change (be it subtle or drastic) in behavior, routine, or action in any given situation.
Realizing that you, the reader with Satanic perspective, may be a creature of any particular habit at any point, what separates you from the dullards of society is your self-awareness and self-control of your habits. You act based not only on your gut feeling or emotional state, but with keen and rational thought to accompany your intuition. You may also realize that you are not a slave to your habits and that you are able to, at the very least, deal with and adapt to any of the changes that come your way (even if you don't necessarily like the changes). Finally, you are more adept to making and breaking your own habits, realizing that the overall responsibility is in your (and only your) hands.
It is the majority of the herd who are driven by mere impulse, and poor use of judgment. Those who shoot themselves in the foot by making their choices and decisions out of what others are doing, or what is fed to them from the media. Once such non-individuals dig themselves into this rut of a routine, their chances of trying anything different (for their own benefit, as well as the logical decrease of inconvenience) vanish for good.
Think of the many people who travel to large chain retail department stores in December for Xmas shopping. It is because they masochistically put themselves in the situation to want to be stuck in traffic, deal with pitiful drivers, and be cramped up in large crowds. It's because they don't care about wasting gas in a traffic jam, potentially starting fights with others in jammed intersections or condensed parking lots, or even trampling another human being to death just so he or she can get into the store on time for the "10 minute, 10 percent off" sale.
All because it's "something that we've done every single year", or it's "holiday season". Failing to realize that good pre-planning (or better execution of obtaining a list of goods before the big Holiday Rush) can save an abundance of hassle or turmoil is a common flaw of the average herdling creature. They are just driven by the sounds of annual music ringing throughout the airwaves, as well as the commercials on TV complete with glowing lights around the percentage that he/she can save on the latest product (without knowing how much money is actually being spent on what is, usually, a piece of disposable garbage).
Examples are certainly not limited to the previous I've mentioned above. It also carries over into the arenas of food and health as well. Many people will eat anything as long as they're told "it tastes good", without regard of any personal choice or thought in the process. And once he or she is "hooked" on a favorite (addicted should be a better choice of word), then hell forbid if any other options, suggesstions, or changes should come along; if it interferes with their old favorite dish, it will be (most likely) left out by the wayside.
Is being a creature of habit necessarily a bad thing? Well, if you happily realize that your actions are determined by going with the steady flow or engaging in a particular routine without any questions, then no. Keep the habits going steady! Those in any market (be it clothing, entertainment, food/drink, tobacco, etc.) who want nothing more than to take advantage of your habits (as well as burn a hole in your pocket) will be patiently, quietly, yet boldly waiting for your kind to line-up at the front door.
It's not only evident in the places frequented, but also in the styles of clothing worn, activities engaged in, destinations traveled to, the lifestyle and occupation followed, literature read, movies watched, music listened to, food and drink consumed, and people associated with. While many will scream "this is not true", what they forget is that they themselves can hardly ever accept any genuine change (be it subtle or drastic) in behavior, routine, or action in any given situation.
Realizing that you, the reader with Satanic perspective, may be a creature of any particular habit at any point, what separates you from the dullards of society is your self-awareness and self-control of your habits. You act based not only on your gut feeling or emotional state, but with keen and rational thought to accompany your intuition. You may also realize that you are not a slave to your habits and that you are able to, at the very least, deal with and adapt to any of the changes that come your way (even if you don't necessarily like the changes). Finally, you are more adept to making and breaking your own habits, realizing that the overall responsibility is in your (and only your) hands.
tirsdag 12. januar 2010
Hedonistically Happy To Be Me.
Every now and then - actually quite often - I read something about somebody not being who they pretend to be, either that they are lying about age, gender, level of experience, or whatever. The point is, they are expressing themselves through a placebo self.
This all seems very strange to me. For whatever trouble and grievances I may have, for every moment of bliss, and all the more gray moments of drudgery, they are my own, and I wouldn't want to trade with anybody else. I do not want to have a different life. I am quite simply not dissatisfied with anything. Or, if I am, I will work to change it.
This world is perfect. Everything is exactly how it is supposed to be. I am quite happy just to be in the middle of it all, traversing the course of my life. I have no regrets, and I do not owe anybody anything. No debts, no unfinished business, no unsettled conflicts. When Osiris weighs my heart on a scale, with that feather in the other cup, I will pass the test. Heavyness has left me.
If you look at a river, you can of course see the water running, and also hear it. But can you FEEL the flow of the water tugging at some distant part of yourself, in your abdomen?
Or, if you are walking in a mountain, and you look up and see an eagle fly above you, can you FEEL the rustling feathers as little electrical flutterings in your skin?
Let me rephrase that question:
Are you ONLINE with the world at large - or are you one of these people who are trapped in a cage within themselves, unable to simply be, and feel, the glory of existence in this mysterious place, in a non polluted way?
What kind of MIND do you have?
I guess that I am lucky, because in my earliest years, I was raised by old school hunter-farmers, in close contact with bona fide arctic wilderness. This is the foundation for all my ethics and all my aesthetic preferences. But most of all, it dictates my perception of reality, and what is important in my surroundings, attention-wise.
It was a bit of a challenge to learn how a city works, but I managed that as well. They are the temples for the modern, cannibalistic economy that we are all suffering under, but really little more than an assembly of artificial mountains, perhaps somewhat akin to an ant colony, where heavily mental-restrained creatures are living in caves within these artificial mountains, performing weird ritual activities in exchange for the symbolic tokens of "money" that they use to buy various products and necessities, to upkeep their life.
So this is Homo Sapiens Sapiensis? Interesting...
There is a freedom that is essentially human and deeply connected with the biosphere, the environment of life in this world, in nature. We have just chosen to not live that way. Instead of living like the absurd monkeys that we truthfully are, we have, in admiration of the mindless perfection of insect organization, chosen to create an artificial intelligence, which is now running the show, seen from a large scale point of view.
But really, there are a whole lot of these artificial intelligences in existence, and we may call them "crowd crystals" - being the lowest, common denominator within a moving "purposed mass" of people. The way of inviting a particular crowd crystal - or meme complex - into your mind, is by way of power exchange, in the form of 'conversation', the mixing of language and ideas, the brain storming, the agitated debate, wherever people meet to exchange ideas and 'talk about stuff'.
It is reasonable to say that we are dominated by our memes, by whichever pet ideas that we have picked up, like viruses, along the way. No one of us all really knows jack shit about this world, but we all have a whole lot of assumptions. We have been Trained, for as long as we have been alive, to see what we see, and believe in what we see. We are also trained to be possessive and defensive about our beliefs, to jealously guard our "knowledge".
Ideas can be right dangerous. A person who one day is afraid of his own shadow, can the next day be geared up to be a stone cold killer by some hypnotic trickery with the mind. Anybody really can become anything! (Limited, of course, by their natural talents and abilities.) It is just a question of focusing a persistent will on the objective. Then comes a hell of a lot of work, which, typically, is where the realists get separated from the dreamers. It usually is a good idea to have an objective, which in its ambitious splendor, is no larger than the amount of effort you will put into actually achieving it.
This all seems very strange to me. For whatever trouble and grievances I may have, for every moment of bliss, and all the more gray moments of drudgery, they are my own, and I wouldn't want to trade with anybody else. I do not want to have a different life. I am quite simply not dissatisfied with anything. Or, if I am, I will work to change it.
This world is perfect. Everything is exactly how it is supposed to be. I am quite happy just to be in the middle of it all, traversing the course of my life. I have no regrets, and I do not owe anybody anything. No debts, no unfinished business, no unsettled conflicts. When Osiris weighs my heart on a scale, with that feather in the other cup, I will pass the test. Heavyness has left me.
If you look at a river, you can of course see the water running, and also hear it. But can you FEEL the flow of the water tugging at some distant part of yourself, in your abdomen?
Or, if you are walking in a mountain, and you look up and see an eagle fly above you, can you FEEL the rustling feathers as little electrical flutterings in your skin?
Let me rephrase that question:
Are you ONLINE with the world at large - or are you one of these people who are trapped in a cage within themselves, unable to simply be, and feel, the glory of existence in this mysterious place, in a non polluted way?
What kind of MIND do you have?
I guess that I am lucky, because in my earliest years, I was raised by old school hunter-farmers, in close contact with bona fide arctic wilderness. This is the foundation for all my ethics and all my aesthetic preferences. But most of all, it dictates my perception of reality, and what is important in my surroundings, attention-wise.
It was a bit of a challenge to learn how a city works, but I managed that as well. They are the temples for the modern, cannibalistic economy that we are all suffering under, but really little more than an assembly of artificial mountains, perhaps somewhat akin to an ant colony, where heavily mental-restrained creatures are living in caves within these artificial mountains, performing weird ritual activities in exchange for the symbolic tokens of "money" that they use to buy various products and necessities, to upkeep their life.
So this is Homo Sapiens Sapiensis? Interesting...
There is a freedom that is essentially human and deeply connected with the biosphere, the environment of life in this world, in nature. We have just chosen to not live that way. Instead of living like the absurd monkeys that we truthfully are, we have, in admiration of the mindless perfection of insect organization, chosen to create an artificial intelligence, which is now running the show, seen from a large scale point of view.
But really, there are a whole lot of these artificial intelligences in existence, and we may call them "crowd crystals" - being the lowest, common denominator within a moving "purposed mass" of people. The way of inviting a particular crowd crystal - or meme complex - into your mind, is by way of power exchange, in the form of 'conversation', the mixing of language and ideas, the brain storming, the agitated debate, wherever people meet to exchange ideas and 'talk about stuff'.
It is reasonable to say that we are dominated by our memes, by whichever pet ideas that we have picked up, like viruses, along the way. No one of us all really knows jack shit about this world, but we all have a whole lot of assumptions. We have been Trained, for as long as we have been alive, to see what we see, and believe in what we see. We are also trained to be possessive and defensive about our beliefs, to jealously guard our "knowledge".
Ideas can be right dangerous. A person who one day is afraid of his own shadow, can the next day be geared up to be a stone cold killer by some hypnotic trickery with the mind. Anybody really can become anything! (Limited, of course, by their natural talents and abilities.) It is just a question of focusing a persistent will on the objective. Then comes a hell of a lot of work, which, typically, is where the realists get separated from the dreamers. It usually is a good idea to have an objective, which in its ambitious splendor, is no larger than the amount of effort you will put into actually achieving it.
lørdag 2. januar 2010
You dont get it.
I regret to inform you but you don't get it. And you probably never will.
Keep that last sentence in the back of your mind.
It can take a lifetime for someone like yourself to try and understand every single other being on the planet. Sometimes you'll be better off repeatedly bashing your own head against a brick wall. Other times you just may get a glimpse of understanding from another person. But at the end of the day, what do you learn from it? Probably nothing.
You're set in your own ways, whether you like it or not. You'll only see in other people what you WANT to see and what you WANT to think of others based on your impressions, assumptions, conclusions, and random outside influences. You'll do everything possible to act as if you really give a shit about the trials and tribulations of your fellow friends, casual acquaintances, work buddies....but honestly, you don't. You're just out to obtain as much information about others as possible, for your own personal enjoyment, entertainment, or warped fascination shrink-wrapped up in jealousy.
When anyone does something that you find out of your norm, you just can't take it. If you're not openly criticizing them or retardedly asking 100 questions about the reasons why he/she takes the actions he/she takes, then you're probably playing stupid little mind games and behaving in subtle ways to let him/her know that you, deep down, have no consideration or respect for them. You'll only come out and speak your mind in a clear, concise, and mature manner if, and only if, it's at your own convenience. Otherwise, you resort to ranting and raving, gossiping, whispering, backstabbing, or just pure old fashioned dominance games just to throw jabs and get your digs in whenever you have the chance.
Many people never think outside their box. If they do, they'll jump right back into the box as quick as they peeked out for a second. Insecurity, indecisiveness, zero integrity, and pure old fashioned ignorance are many reasons why many remain trapped in their box for the rest of their life. The worst part is that they may settle for their place in life, and choose to always remain within that tiny, poorly scoped dimension just to remain safe from ostracization, critique, opposition, or ridicule. And yet, paradoxically, these are generally the same people in life that stress values such as "community", "working together", "equality", "tolerance", "acceptance", etc. Similar to what I've said previously, all of these things are looked upon favoribly by many people.....at their own convenience of course. If it's out of their convenience, they'll huddle together and attempt to think for each other. In other words, when it comes to treating other human beings, they want to wear the "good-guy" badge and get along with all, but also want the convenience to make up their own standards as they go along, picking their scapegoats, martyrs, pillars, undesirables, and idols.
You may find yourself right smack in the middle of this category. It doesn't matter how or why you ended up this way.......but the main point is that you just don't get it.
One of the following reasons may very well be possible:
- You don't understand that you may not be thinking for yourself, but letting others do your thinking for you.
- You really can't fathom others marching to the beat of a different drummer. It boggles your mind.
- You don't know how to wisely discriminate between the cream of the crop from the scum at the bottom of the sink.
- You're secretly jealous or disgruntled of your own flaws, short-comings, and lack of sound judgment that you have to take it out on anyone else who seems to "stick out like a sore thumb" in your eyes.
- You're afraid to challenge your own positions on different matters. Afraid to ask yourself "what if I'm wrong" or "what if I reconsidered taking a deeper look at my own position, and consider other possible stance even if I don't have to inevitably fall into 100% equal agreement with it? Granted, nothing is truly of equal value or at an equal level. But poor judgment leads to dull and lazy thinking, which usually results in putting more credence into the thoughts and whms of others who also don't have a sound perception of life as it is. Therefore, you're a creature of habit (know it or not) but don't take any steps to change it.
You don't get it. You couldn't even if you tried. Then again, I haven't really seen you try very hard at anything in the first place.
Keep that last sentence in the back of your mind.
It can take a lifetime for someone like yourself to try and understand every single other being on the planet. Sometimes you'll be better off repeatedly bashing your own head against a brick wall. Other times you just may get a glimpse of understanding from another person. But at the end of the day, what do you learn from it? Probably nothing.
You're set in your own ways, whether you like it or not. You'll only see in other people what you WANT to see and what you WANT to think of others based on your impressions, assumptions, conclusions, and random outside influences. You'll do everything possible to act as if you really give a shit about the trials and tribulations of your fellow friends, casual acquaintances, work buddies....but honestly, you don't. You're just out to obtain as much information about others as possible, for your own personal enjoyment, entertainment, or warped fascination shrink-wrapped up in jealousy.
When anyone does something that you find out of your norm, you just can't take it. If you're not openly criticizing them or retardedly asking 100 questions about the reasons why he/she takes the actions he/she takes, then you're probably playing stupid little mind games and behaving in subtle ways to let him/her know that you, deep down, have no consideration or respect for them. You'll only come out and speak your mind in a clear, concise, and mature manner if, and only if, it's at your own convenience. Otherwise, you resort to ranting and raving, gossiping, whispering, backstabbing, or just pure old fashioned dominance games just to throw jabs and get your digs in whenever you have the chance.
Many people never think outside their box. If they do, they'll jump right back into the box as quick as they peeked out for a second. Insecurity, indecisiveness, zero integrity, and pure old fashioned ignorance are many reasons why many remain trapped in their box for the rest of their life. The worst part is that they may settle for their place in life, and choose to always remain within that tiny, poorly scoped dimension just to remain safe from ostracization, critique, opposition, or ridicule. And yet, paradoxically, these are generally the same people in life that stress values such as "community", "working together", "equality", "tolerance", "acceptance", etc. Similar to what I've said previously, all of these things are looked upon favoribly by many people.....at their own convenience of course. If it's out of their convenience, they'll huddle together and attempt to think for each other. In other words, when it comes to treating other human beings, they want to wear the "good-guy" badge and get along with all, but also want the convenience to make up their own standards as they go along, picking their scapegoats, martyrs, pillars, undesirables, and idols.
You may find yourself right smack in the middle of this category. It doesn't matter how or why you ended up this way.......but the main point is that you just don't get it.
One of the following reasons may very well be possible:
- You don't understand that you may not be thinking for yourself, but letting others do your thinking for you.
- You really can't fathom others marching to the beat of a different drummer. It boggles your mind.
- You don't know how to wisely discriminate between the cream of the crop from the scum at the bottom of the sink.
- You're secretly jealous or disgruntled of your own flaws, short-comings, and lack of sound judgment that you have to take it out on anyone else who seems to "stick out like a sore thumb" in your eyes.
- You're afraid to challenge your own positions on different matters. Afraid to ask yourself "what if I'm wrong" or "what if I reconsidered taking a deeper look at my own position, and consider other possible stance even if I don't have to inevitably fall into 100% equal agreement with it? Granted, nothing is truly of equal value or at an equal level. But poor judgment leads to dull and lazy thinking, which usually results in putting more credence into the thoughts and whms of others who also don't have a sound perception of life as it is. Therefore, you're a creature of habit (know it or not) but don't take any steps to change it.
You don't get it. You couldn't even if you tried. Then again, I haven't really seen you try very hard at anything in the first place.
fredag 1. januar 2010
Just be yourself.
That phrase has been uttered from many a mouth over time, its basic sentiment meaning that the qualities that make up the "real" you are all that are necessary for others to like, adore, abhor, or otherwise take interest in the displayed "you".
Seeing as how human beings are just animals, this has to be kept in mind to reach a proper perspective on why this phrase is not only overused, but is essentially shit to be consumed by emaciated pigs.
Humans are animals, which is only one form of the many different forms of life. Life is a product of energy being fed (sometimes literally) to any given chamber of working cells which make up an organism. Blades of grass are life, fish are life, amoebae are life, and so are individual sperm and egg, even before forming a zygote. This is not intended to be a rant on why life is sacred. Because life isn't sacred. Life is no adjective any human mind can and will place upon it; life simply is. When life ceases to exist, we have called this death. Life begets life, and life begets death.
When a life of a human begins, the child is raised by its parents according to the genetic and evolutionary protocols that are in the brains of all three party members: father, mother, and child. The child has no other place to observe and assimilate other behaviors but from other humans, and they did so in order to survive the conditions that humans have placed themselves due to the evolution of the species.
To further the exact meaning of the sentiment "Just be yourself", it implies that you aren't to look to others for information concerning who you are (identity and self-presentation). But if you take into account the above paragraph, it is clear that this directive is impossible.
On a literallistic level, how can one be anything but itself?
This phrase has spawned many different sentiments, all bearing extreme resemblances. One of the latest is "be real".
If one is to assume that what is meant by any of the phrases is not blatant imitation, I have to wonder what is so inherently wrong with that behavior. Perhaps the person has noticed a fault within their own self-presentation and/or identity and has chosen a role model? If done subtly, this person may actually create a persona which is not only seemingly unique, but actually fits them better and is conducive to a happier life. Isn't that the general goal in life?
I understand how someone could use this phrase and use it in a context which actually directs a valid point: Create an identity that fits and is becoming instead of basing an identity on undesirable traits (balance factor).
In my opinion however, this phrase and those like it is too often used by the herd to try and ironically demonstrate individuality, while they themselves are the epitome of collectivism.
Seeing as how human beings are just animals, this has to be kept in mind to reach a proper perspective on why this phrase is not only overused, but is essentially shit to be consumed by emaciated pigs.
Humans are animals, which is only one form of the many different forms of life. Life is a product of energy being fed (sometimes literally) to any given chamber of working cells which make up an organism. Blades of grass are life, fish are life, amoebae are life, and so are individual sperm and egg, even before forming a zygote. This is not intended to be a rant on why life is sacred. Because life isn't sacred. Life is no adjective any human mind can and will place upon it; life simply is. When life ceases to exist, we have called this death. Life begets life, and life begets death.
When a life of a human begins, the child is raised by its parents according to the genetic and evolutionary protocols that are in the brains of all three party members: father, mother, and child. The child has no other place to observe and assimilate other behaviors but from other humans, and they did so in order to survive the conditions that humans have placed themselves due to the evolution of the species.
To further the exact meaning of the sentiment "Just be yourself", it implies that you aren't to look to others for information concerning who you are (identity and self-presentation). But if you take into account the above paragraph, it is clear that this directive is impossible.
On a literallistic level, how can one be anything but itself?
This phrase has spawned many different sentiments, all bearing extreme resemblances. One of the latest is "be real".
If one is to assume that what is meant by any of the phrases is not blatant imitation, I have to wonder what is so inherently wrong with that behavior. Perhaps the person has noticed a fault within their own self-presentation and/or identity and has chosen a role model? If done subtly, this person may actually create a persona which is not only seemingly unique, but actually fits them better and is conducive to a happier life. Isn't that the general goal in life?
I understand how someone could use this phrase and use it in a context which actually directs a valid point: Create an identity that fits and is becoming instead of basing an identity on undesirable traits (balance factor).
In my opinion however, this phrase and those like it is too often used by the herd to try and ironically demonstrate individuality, while they themselves are the epitome of collectivism.
tirsdag 29. september 2009
POO
It crossed my mind the other day, while I was perched on the
throne, that there is a lot of excess poo taking place in the
world. I am taking it upon myself to reveal to you what I feel
are some of the major forms of poo on the face of the planet.
Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride, whoever
said these are bad is full of Poo! Like it or not, these are
some of the most motivational urges known to mankind. We go to
work and make more money than it takes to survive (greed) to
eat things that I enjoy plus dessert (gluttony). I enjoy doing
my work to the fullest of my abilities (pride) and Lard forbid
I see someone with something that I would like to have (envy)
and go out and buy it. I hate people who seek to control
others (wrath) and relax one day of the week and do absolutely
nothing (sloth). "Original Sin" is my favorite! They try to
take the one thing that keeps the human race alive, and make
it "evil". I don't know about you but I am glad my father had
a sexual interest in my mother (lust). Those who would try to
enslave someone else would say that the things which come
natural to the human animal are bad or evil. I'm not buying
that bucket full of Poo!
Now we move on to a type of person that deserves an honorable
mention in an essay on Poo, these are the High and Mighty. You
know the type I am referring to, they are the reason God's
green earth exists. A bad day for them is survived only by
slandering others from dusk till dawn! On a good day these
self aggrandized pukes can't seem to get enough of stroking
themselves with one obsessive thought, "If you got it and you
know it Toot your own horn!" I'm sorry to bust your bubble,
but if you were all that and a bag of chips then everyone else
would be tooting your horn for you.
Moving on to the worst type of Poo known to mankind, it's the
self destructive Poo that we put ourselves through day in and
day out and refuse to admit or change. Here is a list of
situations that can be included: Abusive relationships, drug
and alcohol abuse, continuing a vocation that is too stressful
for your personality type, etc. Need I say anything more?
I hope not.
Here I sit all broken hearted and wipe up another smear
session. Once you sift through my poo you will see that there
are three types of poo floating in this bowl of an essay.
There is poo that has been passed down through the ages that
we are suppose to take as gospel truth and never question,
other people's poo, and your own poo. A word from the wise,
don't submit yourself to any more POO than you have to!
throne, that there is a lot of excess poo taking place in the
world. I am taking it upon myself to reveal to you what I feel
are some of the major forms of poo on the face of the planet.
Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride, whoever
said these are bad is full of Poo! Like it or not, these are
some of the most motivational urges known to mankind. We go to
work and make more money than it takes to survive (greed) to
eat things that I enjoy plus dessert (gluttony). I enjoy doing
my work to the fullest of my abilities (pride) and Lard forbid
I see someone with something that I would like to have (envy)
and go out and buy it. I hate people who seek to control
others (wrath) and relax one day of the week and do absolutely
nothing (sloth). "Original Sin" is my favorite! They try to
take the one thing that keeps the human race alive, and make
it "evil". I don't know about you but I am glad my father had
a sexual interest in my mother (lust). Those who would try to
enslave someone else would say that the things which come
natural to the human animal are bad or evil. I'm not buying
that bucket full of Poo!
Now we move on to a type of person that deserves an honorable
mention in an essay on Poo, these are the High and Mighty. You
know the type I am referring to, they are the reason God's
green earth exists. A bad day for them is survived only by
slandering others from dusk till dawn! On a good day these
self aggrandized pukes can't seem to get enough of stroking
themselves with one obsessive thought, "If you got it and you
know it Toot your own horn!" I'm sorry to bust your bubble,
but if you were all that and a bag of chips then everyone else
would be tooting your horn for you.
Moving on to the worst type of Poo known to mankind, it's the
self destructive Poo that we put ourselves through day in and
day out and refuse to admit or change. Here is a list of
situations that can be included: Abusive relationships, drug
and alcohol abuse, continuing a vocation that is too stressful
for your personality type, etc. Need I say anything more?
I hope not.
Here I sit all broken hearted and wipe up another smear
session. Once you sift through my poo you will see that there
are three types of poo floating in this bowl of an essay.
There is poo that has been passed down through the ages that
we are suppose to take as gospel truth and never question,
other people's poo, and your own poo. A word from the wise,
don't submit yourself to any more POO than you have to!
mandag 10. august 2009
Cops are right.
"The police always harass us". This is a quote that speaks volumes. First, it identifies the person saying it as a criminal. Second, the person who would utter such a phrase is a weak individual and content in being a victim (slave). Third, the person who says this is stupid. Here is one of the many reasons why: By saying something like this, the person establishes himself as a bona fide criminal and by speaking like this he is further incriminating himself. Stay clear of someone who says the above quote. It is not good to associate yourself with stupid people.
Let us now look at a couple of real life examples of who the police always 'harass':
You see them everywhere. Usually it is teenagers (however, some people never go beyond this). Although it is scary, these people become adults. They wear pot leaves on their t-shirts, have pot leaf air fresheners, or have 4:20 bumper stickers. The fact is they are admitting they are breaking the law. Either that or they are just stupid posers. No less, the illogic is, "Weed should be legal man. It is going to happen any day. I'm fighting the good fight by wearing this". News flash: The marijuana legalization movement has been going on for many years. The reason for the most part it has been unsuccessful is because of these very types advertising their stupidity. There are above the board legalization movements. It is fine and good to work with them if this is something you believe in. However, you must always question: Are you a master or a slave? In other words look at the situation pragmatically. Do you like jail? Are you fine with being a martyr? The last one is important. The martyr is a slave who is being controlled by someone else. While you may feel strong that marijuana should be legal, the fact is that it is currently illegal in this country. Advertising that you do it almost assures you a ticket to jail. The police are not harassing you. They are doing their job. You are making it easier for them to bust you. You are stupid.
Second on our list are gang bangers. I don't know how else to say it: The color is the dead giveaway. I am not talking about skin color here. Gang bangers proudly sport their gang colors where ever they hang out. First, this is stupid on it's face value. It instantly tells the other gang to shoot your sorry ass and gets you a free trip to the morgue. Chances are you won't have a pleasant looking corpse. Next, the police are well aware of gang colors and hand signs. The fact is that your thumper bunny car rattles every window in sight (usually playing music that advocates criminal behaviors and lifestyles) announces your arrival. How idiotic. Gang bangers always whine about police harassment. Again, the fact that you are advertising that you are a criminal is what gets you busted. Gang bangers claim to hate cops. Yet by action they assist the police. This is not even a good criminal. The good ones don't get caught. Al Capone would roll over in his grave. Once I saw a picture of gang bangers. They were all behind bars throwing up their gang signs. I thought: 'How intelligent. A bunch of grown men who can make shapes with their fingers. They must have put on a really bad wall light show to wind up in jail.' What stupidity.
In the old days police had to get out the rubber hose to get people to fess up. These days outside of attire, criminals readily brag about their illegal activity to anyone who will lend an ear. There is no thought to who might be listening. Then, when they are busted they scratch their heads and wonder how they were found out.
If you are a criminal who likes jail time, fine and good. However, don't bring it to my door step. Don't expect sympathy from me. How dare you expect me to believe that police harass you! I am not a rube. You made your bed, now lie in it. As the old saying goes: 'Responsibility to the responsible.'
Let us now look at a couple of real life examples of who the police always 'harass':
You see them everywhere. Usually it is teenagers (however, some people never go beyond this). Although it is scary, these people become adults. They wear pot leaves on their t-shirts, have pot leaf air fresheners, or have 4:20 bumper stickers. The fact is they are admitting they are breaking the law. Either that or they are just stupid posers. No less, the illogic is, "Weed should be legal man. It is going to happen any day. I'm fighting the good fight by wearing this". News flash: The marijuana legalization movement has been going on for many years. The reason for the most part it has been unsuccessful is because of these very types advertising their stupidity. There are above the board legalization movements. It is fine and good to work with them if this is something you believe in. However, you must always question: Are you a master or a slave? In other words look at the situation pragmatically. Do you like jail? Are you fine with being a martyr? The last one is important. The martyr is a slave who is being controlled by someone else. While you may feel strong that marijuana should be legal, the fact is that it is currently illegal in this country. Advertising that you do it almost assures you a ticket to jail. The police are not harassing you. They are doing their job. You are making it easier for them to bust you. You are stupid.
Second on our list are gang bangers. I don't know how else to say it: The color is the dead giveaway. I am not talking about skin color here. Gang bangers proudly sport their gang colors where ever they hang out. First, this is stupid on it's face value. It instantly tells the other gang to shoot your sorry ass and gets you a free trip to the morgue. Chances are you won't have a pleasant looking corpse. Next, the police are well aware of gang colors and hand signs. The fact is that your thumper bunny car rattles every window in sight (usually playing music that advocates criminal behaviors and lifestyles) announces your arrival. How idiotic. Gang bangers always whine about police harassment. Again, the fact that you are advertising that you are a criminal is what gets you busted. Gang bangers claim to hate cops. Yet by action they assist the police. This is not even a good criminal. The good ones don't get caught. Al Capone would roll over in his grave. Once I saw a picture of gang bangers. They were all behind bars throwing up their gang signs. I thought: 'How intelligent. A bunch of grown men who can make shapes with their fingers. They must have put on a really bad wall light show to wind up in jail.' What stupidity.
In the old days police had to get out the rubber hose to get people to fess up. These days outside of attire, criminals readily brag about their illegal activity to anyone who will lend an ear. There is no thought to who might be listening. Then, when they are busted they scratch their heads and wonder how they were found out.
If you are a criminal who likes jail time, fine and good. However, don't bring it to my door step. Don't expect sympathy from me. How dare you expect me to believe that police harass you! I am not a rube. You made your bed, now lie in it. As the old saying goes: 'Responsibility to the responsible.'
tirsdag 28. juli 2009
YouTube and the armchair animal behaviorist.
Now that my internet odysseys of fantasy artwork and crockpot recipes are over, I am now an armchair animal behaviorist. I know all. Once I saw a video featuring live dolphins doing mean things to each other. I thought this was interesting and kind of funny. We can all be animal behaviorists if we like.
We say dolphins are great, they're smart, they have feelings, emotions. We say that our pets will pack.
We find that when let or turned loose, or allowed general freedom, a small population of dogs will behave as a pack. But then we find that cats won't, they'll pair off. Two, and you have best friends. Three, you probably have an odd man out. Four and you have two sets of best friends, and so on.
This lengthy essay is about some observations of mine of humankind's compulsion to assign certain qualities to non-human animals and our shock at the consequences of learning something new. I know the post is long, but those of you who bear with me might find it entertaining if nothing else. It's tongue-in-cheek a little too, because what if we traded which human traits we assign to animals? For many, not knowing something is better than knowing, because once you know something, you can't un-know it. And if you suddenly know something, and it turns out to be uncomfortable, you flail around trying to make sense of it.
As death machines, the great white shark and the killer whale have a lot in common. Dominant, big sharp teeth, fast and agile, sharply-honed killing skills.
The great white shark kills and eats when it's hungry, puts itself on auto-pilot when it's tired, and lives a simple life. It gets curious sometimes, though. When what it sees is out of the ordinary, it will usually check it out, and sometimes bite it. Knowledge of this is not new.
Babies and small kids do that - if you want to know something more about something, taste it. If it's iggy, spit it out. If it's good, take another bite.
"Jaws" will tell you the great white may seek revenge, as it may find it personally offensive that a human would kill its offspring.
I watched a video documenting a pride of lions and its relationship to a herd of water buffalo. The herd found the little hideout of the pride, took the pride by surprise and stomped all the lion cubs to death. As soon as the cubs were dead, the herd left. The video of the prior incident put it into perspective. Battle at Kruger, in which the lionesses tried to take down a baby buffalo near the river's edge when the herd stepped in. It took several tries, but eventually the herd saved the baby. Rather than end the confrontation as soon as the baby was saved, a few of the herd would chase each of the lionesses away. I don't know if there was a long-standing feud between this herd and that pride, but maybe "Jaws" wasn't too far off the mark.
Survival. The herd "instinctively" knows that with all the cubs dead, that's fewer future lions to contend with, and making fresh cubs will keep the pride busy. For all a while, they'll be going after easier prey. Send those bitches back with a note, "Buffalo Not Easy." Make the lesson last. That was striking at the heart of the pride. There's a lot of logic and reason in that.
Another video showed five or six lionesses and one water buffalo, which put up a tremendous fight, to its death. It gored one of the lionesses. She died later.
Maybe there's more to the hunt of the water buffalo. Maybe the girls are beating their chests. Half a dozen of them to take him down, were they are proving their womanhood? Or proving a point to the lions? Was it watch-us lessons day for the cubs?
Maybe buffalo meat is tastier. After all, those two gazelles over there could have been easy pickings. As a beef eater, faced with a pound of hamburger and a K.C. Strip, that Strip is mine, I own that Strip. I took it down, made it say ouch and then shit it out. I can show a Strip who's boss. Most times you have to dress up just-plain-hamburger. Form it into a shape. Break it up and put it in something else. Pour something on it.
The Strip is different. Throw it on the grill until it stops crying and then tear it apart. But it's not an all-the-time thing, sometimes I can't afford it.
Money is my "getting gored" or "having my babies stomped." Hamburger is my gazelles.
We have much easier lives than they.
They're more like us than people want to admit.
People want to believe animals do everything by instinct.
When we want to fuck, it's wrong. When animals want to fuck, they're trying to make babies.
Even though there's animals that will fuck just from pure boredom.
Instinct would lead an animal to protect its young, for survival, the line must continue, yada, yada.
Isn't that why humans protect their young? We love them, but an act of violence against those who would hurt our young is as much selfish as selfless. Isn't it?
We want to save the animals, so we take them out of the admittedly shitty environment of hunger, weather and disease, and put them in safe little places designed to mimic (mock?) their natural environment, and act surprised when we finally get to see them do something that an animal does. Like, I don't know, bite a dude. Or fuck another male goat in the ass. Or eat its own baby. Or eat another animal's baby. Let's cage them up, but let's wig out when they do something so evil as to be an animal.
Back to the great white shark, and thank you, those of you bearing with me. Linguascelesta. Evil Eve. Virus9. We know more about the animals we are able to observe than the ones we aren't. We know a lot about dolphins, dolphin knowledge is commonplace, but we guess on the giant squid. We guess on all that freaky shit on the bottom of the ocean near Antartica.
Look how awed and mesmerized people seem when confronted with video of the ocean floor at temperatures humans can't even comprehend, much less survive. Yes, it is neat to see, but dang. Mesmerized, like they couldn't figure something could live like that. Well, duh. Life can't be stopped, it can't be stayed, it can't be caged up. And once it's there, it protects its young. Or eats it.
I like the easy life. I don't have to eat my kid sometimes.
We appreciate them when they're being cute. A beluga whale making "boo" faces at a crowd at the aquarium gets coos and applause.
But if you're a male mountain goat, and you fuck another male mountain goat in the ass, you're just labeled gay.
Gay animals. It's another symptom of society's obsession with other people's sex. You think he's gay? Didn't you think he acted gay? Are they gay? It's gotten compulsive, the way that question is asked, right up front. Almost immediately they say, not that it matters. But... it did matter, you asked the question, didn't you? If it didn't matter, you wouldn't have asked.
And now it matters if animals are gay.
They ate their own babies.
They stomped someone else's babies.
They got drunk from fermenting rotting fruit on the ground - for real LET the fruit drop to the ground without even trying to get it while it's fresh, let it rot on the ground and then partied. Deliberately. So they could get fucked up. How's that for a lesson learned? What a surprise! They did something like what we would do, like pick mushrooms out of cowshit and party.
It's okay if a leopard kills and eats a monkey, then adopts the monkey's baby, and tries to take care of it until it dies because it's still on the teat. How sweet she did that. It's all well and good when a couple of gorilla babies make up a game. How cute, they're playing.
In the case of hippos licking and nibbling on the backs of large crocodiles, and the crocodiles paying no attention, oh, it's some instinct thing. Must be something the crocodile's skin ooozes that the hippos need physically, or maybe the hippo is licking off mites that bother the crocodile.
But when a couple of college kids antagonize a tiger until it gets out of its enclosure and shreds one of them to death, there's a big huge argument about who fucked up. Why do we even need to keep them anymore? I was able to see videos of this shit because cameras are everywhere, even in vastness of middle Africa. We can watch the migrations, and what animals do in their natural environment is a whole lot more interesting than what they do in a cage. We don't just give them limits physically, but we give them limits in our own heads.
They just can't do anything, unless we think they can.
Why is anybody surprised anymore at what an animal will do?
It's us that doesn't want to admit we are more like them, not they more like us. It's that "baser" stuff people don't want to "admit" to having or wanting. Nobody in the wild tells a mountain goat it's not okay to fuck another male mountain goat in the ass. We say what those two mountain goats just did was a dominance thing. Showing it who's boss. Oh, uh, it's a bonding thing.
Whatever. We don't know why the goats did it, and what drives us crazy is that we already know the goats didn't even put as much thought into as we did. Eew, we're perverted. We're so uncomfortable with it that we have to take all the fun out of it in order to understand it. We either call it gay or call it instinct.
It's possible that tuna might be nicer than dolphins. Maybe tunas don't gang up on each other, or jump out of the water to try to fuck a person, or kill a baby whale for fun. We wouldn't know, because we eat tuna, and the less we know about them, the better. The more we know it, the more we don't want to eat it. And dammit, they won't do tricks.
We will eat the shit out of broccoli, but if its got a funny shape and comes from a foreign country, we're scared of it.
If it tastes like cow, looks like cow, acts like cow, we eat it, but if that cow's actually a Boer goat, we saw "eew." Well, what do you expect? Cows aren't cute.
And now back to the great white shark. It depends only on itself. The killing machine of the ocean, immense and single-minded as it appears. Technology brings us more about the killer whale. It sure acts dolphin-ish when it's at Seaworld, so we want to coo at it. We've never wanted to coo at the great white shark. It won't ever perform tricks for us. The killer whale, like Shoeless Joe, plays for food money.
Slowly but surely, killer whales are moving into territory owned by the great white, and they are staying...colonizing. Maybe the great white is too single-minded to care much?
And I learned about C-A2, the 25-year-old killer whale with a taste for the liver of the great white. Not necessarily the whole great white, but just the liver. Oh, we don't want to think about that though, because they're so much like dolphins, and that sort of thing is too much like killing an elephant for its tusks, and leaving it to rot. Freaky story, and one I thought was pretty darn neat! That, to me, is a neat thing to know. Stir all that up with - yes - another video I saw. The killer whale eats on seals, snatches them up, takes them out into the ocean and plays with them, it's sick to watch. But one time, it brought a poor seal back to shore and dumped it, live, and then left.
To me that didn't say the whale felt sorry for it. Hey, I can assign any human trait I want, right? I don't think killer whales have sympathy like that. Showing its dominance perhaps. That's what "instinct" would tell us. But just having a good time? I thought, wow that was kinda psycho. That was kinda...fucked up. It was mean and horrifying. It was darn fucking neat!
So I decided, armchair animal behaviorist that I am, that the difference between the killer whale and the great white shark, killing machines that they are, is a sense of humor. The great white has no sense of humor. The killer whale has a sense of humor, in the sense I can define and assign.
I also decided, that in the case of hippos licking and nibbling on the backs of large crocodiles, maybe they're each more human than we know. Maybe it's not instinct at all. The hippo believes it's so big and bad it can chew or lick your back whenever it wants, just because it can and it wants to. The crocodile...well, let's face it, what's it gonna do? What can it do? The hippo is as big and bad as it is. I can't do anything about it, and I'm not going to walk away or let anyone see me walking away. So I'll just let you, and pretend it's okay, by the way fuck you, that's a shitty position to put me in.
Or it's just used to picking its battles carefully. Or it just doesn't mind.
Why does it have to be all serious instinct, all the time? By limiting our imagination, we limit what we can learn, and fool ourselves into believing we're superior. Why can't the cute friendly whale menace and stalk the giant squid? Why can't baboons hang out with gazelles one day and eat one the next day?
I like YouTube. I saw a dude put his whole arm up an elephant's butt, and flail around in there. Another dude had a cone-thing. They were, for real, gathering semen from this animal. Well, we need to learn more about them, don't we? Just fuck one and it's called bestiality. Cover yourself in plastic first and it's called biology.
Survival is closer to the mark of why animals do the shit they do. Sometimes survival requires that which we have simply not recorded on video.
I decided the great white sharks are moving away from their territory on the west coast in the face of the killer whales, not out of fear, or inferiority, but because killer whales are assholes, and, like I said, great whites have no sense of humor. That's why Africans don't tame and ride the zebra. It's just not worth the trouble, because zebras are dicks, obnoxious dicks. I saw it on video.
Heh. Or maybe the great whites are gay...not that it matters.
We say dolphins are great, they're smart, they have feelings, emotions. We say that our pets will pack.
We find that when let or turned loose, or allowed general freedom, a small population of dogs will behave as a pack. But then we find that cats won't, they'll pair off. Two, and you have best friends. Three, you probably have an odd man out. Four and you have two sets of best friends, and so on.
This lengthy essay is about some observations of mine of humankind's compulsion to assign certain qualities to non-human animals and our shock at the consequences of learning something new. I know the post is long, but those of you who bear with me might find it entertaining if nothing else. It's tongue-in-cheek a little too, because what if we traded which human traits we assign to animals? For many, not knowing something is better than knowing, because once you know something, you can't un-know it. And if you suddenly know something, and it turns out to be uncomfortable, you flail around trying to make sense of it.
As death machines, the great white shark and the killer whale have a lot in common. Dominant, big sharp teeth, fast and agile, sharply-honed killing skills.
The great white shark kills and eats when it's hungry, puts itself on auto-pilot when it's tired, and lives a simple life. It gets curious sometimes, though. When what it sees is out of the ordinary, it will usually check it out, and sometimes bite it. Knowledge of this is not new.
Babies and small kids do that - if you want to know something more about something, taste it. If it's iggy, spit it out. If it's good, take another bite.
"Jaws" will tell you the great white may seek revenge, as it may find it personally offensive that a human would kill its offspring.
I watched a video documenting a pride of lions and its relationship to a herd of water buffalo. The herd found the little hideout of the pride, took the pride by surprise and stomped all the lion cubs to death. As soon as the cubs were dead, the herd left. The video of the prior incident put it into perspective. Battle at Kruger, in which the lionesses tried to take down a baby buffalo near the river's edge when the herd stepped in. It took several tries, but eventually the herd saved the baby. Rather than end the confrontation as soon as the baby was saved, a few of the herd would chase each of the lionesses away. I don't know if there was a long-standing feud between this herd and that pride, but maybe "Jaws" wasn't too far off the mark.
Survival. The herd "instinctively" knows that with all the cubs dead, that's fewer future lions to contend with, and making fresh cubs will keep the pride busy. For all a while, they'll be going after easier prey. Send those bitches back with a note, "Buffalo Not Easy." Make the lesson last. That was striking at the heart of the pride. There's a lot of logic and reason in that.
Another video showed five or six lionesses and one water buffalo, which put up a tremendous fight, to its death. It gored one of the lionesses. She died later.
Maybe there's more to the hunt of the water buffalo. Maybe the girls are beating their chests. Half a dozen of them to take him down, were they are proving their womanhood? Or proving a point to the lions? Was it watch-us lessons day for the cubs?
Maybe buffalo meat is tastier. After all, those two gazelles over there could have been easy pickings. As a beef eater, faced with a pound of hamburger and a K.C. Strip, that Strip is mine, I own that Strip. I took it down, made it say ouch and then shit it out. I can show a Strip who's boss. Most times you have to dress up just-plain-hamburger. Form it into a shape. Break it up and put it in something else. Pour something on it.
The Strip is different. Throw it on the grill until it stops crying and then tear it apart. But it's not an all-the-time thing, sometimes I can't afford it.
Money is my "getting gored" or "having my babies stomped." Hamburger is my gazelles.
We have much easier lives than they.
They're more like us than people want to admit.
People want to believe animals do everything by instinct.
When we want to fuck, it's wrong. When animals want to fuck, they're trying to make babies.
Even though there's animals that will fuck just from pure boredom.
Instinct would lead an animal to protect its young, for survival, the line must continue, yada, yada.
Isn't that why humans protect their young? We love them, but an act of violence against those who would hurt our young is as much selfish as selfless. Isn't it?
We want to save the animals, so we take them out of the admittedly shitty environment of hunger, weather and disease, and put them in safe little places designed to mimic (mock?) their natural environment, and act surprised when we finally get to see them do something that an animal does. Like, I don't know, bite a dude. Or fuck another male goat in the ass. Or eat its own baby. Or eat another animal's baby. Let's cage them up, but let's wig out when they do something so evil as to be an animal.
Back to the great white shark, and thank you, those of you bearing with me. Linguascelesta. Evil Eve. Virus9. We know more about the animals we are able to observe than the ones we aren't. We know a lot about dolphins, dolphin knowledge is commonplace, but we guess on the giant squid. We guess on all that freaky shit on the bottom of the ocean near Antartica.
Look how awed and mesmerized people seem when confronted with video of the ocean floor at temperatures humans can't even comprehend, much less survive. Yes, it is neat to see, but dang. Mesmerized, like they couldn't figure something could live like that. Well, duh. Life can't be stopped, it can't be stayed, it can't be caged up. And once it's there, it protects its young. Or eats it.
I like the easy life. I don't have to eat my kid sometimes.
We appreciate them when they're being cute. A beluga whale making "boo" faces at a crowd at the aquarium gets coos and applause.
But if you're a male mountain goat, and you fuck another male mountain goat in the ass, you're just labeled gay.
Gay animals. It's another symptom of society's obsession with other people's sex. You think he's gay? Didn't you think he acted gay? Are they gay? It's gotten compulsive, the way that question is asked, right up front. Almost immediately they say, not that it matters. But... it did matter, you asked the question, didn't you? If it didn't matter, you wouldn't have asked.
And now it matters if animals are gay.
They ate their own babies.
They stomped someone else's babies.
They got drunk from fermenting rotting fruit on the ground - for real LET the fruit drop to the ground without even trying to get it while it's fresh, let it rot on the ground and then partied. Deliberately. So they could get fucked up. How's that for a lesson learned? What a surprise! They did something like what we would do, like pick mushrooms out of cowshit and party.
It's okay if a leopard kills and eats a monkey, then adopts the monkey's baby, and tries to take care of it until it dies because it's still on the teat. How sweet she did that. It's all well and good when a couple of gorilla babies make up a game. How cute, they're playing.
In the case of hippos licking and nibbling on the backs of large crocodiles, and the crocodiles paying no attention, oh, it's some instinct thing. Must be something the crocodile's skin ooozes that the hippos need physically, or maybe the hippo is licking off mites that bother the crocodile.
But when a couple of college kids antagonize a tiger until it gets out of its enclosure and shreds one of them to death, there's a big huge argument about who fucked up. Why do we even need to keep them anymore? I was able to see videos of this shit because cameras are everywhere, even in vastness of middle Africa. We can watch the migrations, and what animals do in their natural environment is a whole lot more interesting than what they do in a cage. We don't just give them limits physically, but we give them limits in our own heads.
They just can't do anything, unless we think they can.
Why is anybody surprised anymore at what an animal will do?
It's us that doesn't want to admit we are more like them, not they more like us. It's that "baser" stuff people don't want to "admit" to having or wanting. Nobody in the wild tells a mountain goat it's not okay to fuck another male mountain goat in the ass. We say what those two mountain goats just did was a dominance thing. Showing it who's boss. Oh, uh, it's a bonding thing.
Whatever. We don't know why the goats did it, and what drives us crazy is that we already know the goats didn't even put as much thought into as we did. Eew, we're perverted. We're so uncomfortable with it that we have to take all the fun out of it in order to understand it. We either call it gay or call it instinct.
It's possible that tuna might be nicer than dolphins. Maybe tunas don't gang up on each other, or jump out of the water to try to fuck a person, or kill a baby whale for fun. We wouldn't know, because we eat tuna, and the less we know about them, the better. The more we know it, the more we don't want to eat it. And dammit, they won't do tricks.
We will eat the shit out of broccoli, but if its got a funny shape and comes from a foreign country, we're scared of it.
If it tastes like cow, looks like cow, acts like cow, we eat it, but if that cow's actually a Boer goat, we saw "eew." Well, what do you expect? Cows aren't cute.
And now back to the great white shark. It depends only on itself. The killing machine of the ocean, immense and single-minded as it appears. Technology brings us more about the killer whale. It sure acts dolphin-ish when it's at Seaworld, so we want to coo at it. We've never wanted to coo at the great white shark. It won't ever perform tricks for us. The killer whale, like Shoeless Joe, plays for food money.
Slowly but surely, killer whales are moving into territory owned by the great white, and they are staying...colonizing. Maybe the great white is too single-minded to care much?
And I learned about C-A2, the 25-year-old killer whale with a taste for the liver of the great white. Not necessarily the whole great white, but just the liver. Oh, we don't want to think about that though, because they're so much like dolphins, and that sort of thing is too much like killing an elephant for its tusks, and leaving it to rot. Freaky story, and one I thought was pretty darn neat! That, to me, is a neat thing to know. Stir all that up with - yes - another video I saw. The killer whale eats on seals, snatches them up, takes them out into the ocean and plays with them, it's sick to watch. But one time, it brought a poor seal back to shore and dumped it, live, and then left.
To me that didn't say the whale felt sorry for it. Hey, I can assign any human trait I want, right? I don't think killer whales have sympathy like that. Showing its dominance perhaps. That's what "instinct" would tell us. But just having a good time? I thought, wow that was kinda psycho. That was kinda...fucked up. It was mean and horrifying. It was darn fucking neat!
So I decided, armchair animal behaviorist that I am, that the difference between the killer whale and the great white shark, killing machines that they are, is a sense of humor. The great white has no sense of humor. The killer whale has a sense of humor, in the sense I can define and assign.
I also decided, that in the case of hippos licking and nibbling on the backs of large crocodiles, maybe they're each more human than we know. Maybe it's not instinct at all. The hippo believes it's so big and bad it can chew or lick your back whenever it wants, just because it can and it wants to. The crocodile...well, let's face it, what's it gonna do? What can it do? The hippo is as big and bad as it is. I can't do anything about it, and I'm not going to walk away or let anyone see me walking away. So I'll just let you, and pretend it's okay, by the way fuck you, that's a shitty position to put me in.
Or it's just used to picking its battles carefully. Or it just doesn't mind.
Why does it have to be all serious instinct, all the time? By limiting our imagination, we limit what we can learn, and fool ourselves into believing we're superior. Why can't the cute friendly whale menace and stalk the giant squid? Why can't baboons hang out with gazelles one day and eat one the next day?
I like YouTube. I saw a dude put his whole arm up an elephant's butt, and flail around in there. Another dude had a cone-thing. They were, for real, gathering semen from this animal. Well, we need to learn more about them, don't we? Just fuck one and it's called bestiality. Cover yourself in plastic first and it's called biology.
Survival is closer to the mark of why animals do the shit they do. Sometimes survival requires that which we have simply not recorded on video.
I decided the great white sharks are moving away from their territory on the west coast in the face of the killer whales, not out of fear, or inferiority, but because killer whales are assholes, and, like I said, great whites have no sense of humor. That's why Africans don't tame and ride the zebra. It's just not worth the trouble, because zebras are dicks, obnoxious dicks. I saw it on video.
Heh. Or maybe the great whites are gay...not that it matters.
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