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A funny thing happened when I contemplated the forum.

The PD is a text that, above all, prompts thinking for one's self.  And what is a thought, but an action, waiting for a green light?  Thinking for one's self, and doing for one's self, and forging the reality that makes one happy, is the overarching theme/purpose of what made itself manifest to the persons of Mal² and OKR on that fateful day at the lanes.  "Throw off the shackles of what went before, because with every sunrise, there is new opportunity.  Escape from the "now" is fruitless, and we're all sacks of rotting meat at the end, so be, live, think as you wish, because no-one need give you permission; you hold all in the palm of your hand." 

Dogma, and external standards, can carry you only so far.  The foundation can be laid in mud and straw, but bricks can only be forged in the heat of LIFE, the kiln of experience.  To forge a basis of KNOWING there must be a trial for true; else the first wind that blows, the first rumble of earth, the first wave from far out to sea, will trip up your fleeing feet, will foul your erstwhile escape, will preclude your precious self-preservation, and doom your dumbass to defeat.

The ones that stand guard, the Gargantuan Gargoyles who watch over the gates to enlightenment, are possessed of a responsibility that goes with such lofty pretensions.  They are the ones on whom it falls to provide the next layer of Truth.  When emotions run high, and enthusiasm is everywhere evident, They are the ones to drive the horrible truths home, to push and pull the Proto-Enlightened to rise above their constraints.  If mere words become standards, then Rules become Law, and Someone will get too Serious, and the self-appointed Cerberus must fulfill its role to crack the Lails and salt the snails and rave and rant and wear no pants to allow a draft to alter the attitude to a point of proper irreverence. 

Discord, who struck a chord in me, is an interesting note (or measure, or maybe an entire phrase), but the symphony of LIFE awaits, each unto his own, until, in the din of existence, there is a completeness achieved (yet never ending, until the last note fades away). 

In plain terms, I view the forums here at PD.com as an example of what might be achieved in a group of individuals ... one model amongst many others that should serve to encourage the dreams of those that wish to be themselves, and who realize, quite possibly for the first time, that the only thing that's stopping them is a papier-mache wall.  By virtue of its location, at TheHolyBook.com, this forum is the likeliest place to attract the Noobs (who admittedly may not be as bored with the Original as the rest).  Yet as long as there is a sense of wonder, as long as a desire is evident for a broadening of perspective, then they should be helped, and guided, and given a measure of understanding, else they recoil as much from freedom as one of us would a southern baptist furry convention with Hitler as the main speaker and the world's fugliest woman passing out herpes by the cunt-full in the lobby.

Who among us has never had a dream?  Who among us has never felt the thrill of a new and different perspective?  Can you not recall a moment where your world turned on end?  And did you not avoid the clock, recalling Schrodinger's Cat?  If you close your eyes, and do not acknowledge time, this NEW can last forever! 

Then...


Inevitably...


The question presents itself...


Now what?


All I know is that I don't know.  The answers you seek lie on the path that you alone must walk.  I can share what I have learned from the places that I've been, but until you've done the things I have, it's nothing more than talk.  I can point in a direction, but the steps must be your own.

All I know is that I want to know what lies 'round every corner, I wish to understand myself, my area, my world and universe, and so I keep my eyes and ears open for whatever I can gather from whomever seems worthwhile, so share your thoughts, ideas, and dreams, and who knows where we might go!

I heard this guy speak on NPR and he sounded intelligent, and the things he talked about seem to have relevance to the questions of "What are we doing? Where are we going?"  His new book, The Upside of Down, talks about societal stresses that impact the future of civilization.  I'm going to get a copy today when the stores open.  I've read the prologue which can be found here:  http://www.theupsideofdown.com/pdf/theupsideofdown-prologue.pdf and he makes a lot of sense, especially in his comparison of the Roman Empire's collapse with America's current situation.

My biggest problem is with the idea that humanity is somehow more important than the rest of the world, that we have the right to fuck stuff up, simply because the rest of the organisms on the planet haven't revolted yet.  People are animals.  We are no more special than any other organism.  We have no more right to live than anything else, yet our predominant cultures are taking whatever steps possible to eliminate Natural Selection from the equation because other people dying "Feels bad." 

"Oooh, You can't say the word Retarded because it's insensitive!  What if someone's child has a genetic disorder?"  Then they should die, and the parent shouldn't have any more kids.  That's the way it works in the wild, and it's good for the species.  It ensures that only the most adapted survive, but these days everyone gets to survive, simply by virtue of being born.  Healthcare is one of the biggest things people who support civilization point to.  They say, "What if you broke your leg, you'd want to get it fixed right?  What if you were a diabetic?  Good luck getting insulin in the middle of the rainforest!"  I say, If I was one of the people with diabetes, I should die.  Tough titties.  That's the way it should go.  But NooooOoo, we can't have people getting their Feelings hurt!  Natural Selection worked on this planet since the beginning of life, yet in the last ten thousand years we have managed to fuck it up beyond all repair.

Human Comfort has come to replace the system that got us here.  Only the individuals who were more adapted to survival got to procreate, but these days anybody with a sperm or egg can pop out a little bastard of their own, to the detriment of the species as a whole.  The little bugger gets taken care of for a couple of months, and then it's off to daycare where they learn how to interact with other human beings from all the other little brats whose parents don't love them as much as they love a paycheck.  Once they survive daycare they get to spend the majority of the next thirteen years being forced to obey those in "Authority" and learning stuff they'll never use, but being prepared for getting exploited for the rest of their lives.  But John Taylor Gatto better enunciates the failings of the Education system to produce humans that can think critically, and it's successes in producing good little worker drones that keep the Machine^tm going.

Human Comfort is enhanced by dishwashers, clothes washers and driers, automobiles, the entertainment industry, and a billion other devices that make up "Civilization."  What we actually need to survive is food, water, air and shelter, but all of those things we have for comfort contribute to the ruination of our food, water, and air.  We are causing our own demise through our desire for comfort and ease.  How stupid is it to demolish the systems in place that keep us alive, just so we can watch American Idol and wear Designer Clothes?  Laziness and greed For Teh Lose.

I have a problem with the depth of greed in our culture that has given rise to and been enhanced by Advertising.  "Somebody else has more stuff than me, so I want it too, cause then I'll be TRULY happy!"  Bullshit.  More Dockers in your closet doesn't make you a happier or better person.

What I'd like to know is how the Hopi, !Kung, hell even the Iroquois and Aztecs are anywhere near as bad as the Roman Catholic Church, DuPont Chemicals, and the US Government.

My characterization of individuals in most tribes - "I am an integral part of my environment, symbiotic with the plants, animals, and insects that live around me.  I care about the relationships I have with others of my tribe, and my actions benefit all.  I have all that I need for survival."

My characterization of individuals in most "successful cultures" - "Go to work doing a job that I hate, working for bosses I hate for the majority of my life, in order to buy more shit that I don't really need and that won't make me happier, maybe pop out a couple of kids who will grow up to pay for my stupidity, greed, and laziness, by being just as miserable as I am, only with a lot fewer freedoms, quality relationships, arable land, drinkable water, and other living breathing organisms."

How much time during the week do you spend working, getting ready for work, traveling to or from work, and thinking about work?  How much time during the week do you spend improving yourself, your relationships, and preparing your children to be decent human beings?  Corporations control the bulk of individual's lives directly, and the rest of their lives through their control of the government.  When's the last time you ever heard of a Lobbying Group for the good of the people?

What it boils down to is this:  I see the Machine^tm as a function of greed and powerlust and people not giving a shit about the consequences of their actions beyond turning a profit, which is mostly found when there is a system of hierarchy, where someone can say "I'm better than you because I make more money, and have more power" because money is a construct of people, and power is only in people's minds.  As long as you can convince people that money matters and they have to obey you (through Religion, etc) then you can "win" at a game I don't want to play.  The answer is to get rid of hierarchy, and to look at societies that function without it, or money.

Human Civilization is quickly failing as evolutionarily viable option, and wiping itself off the face of the planet with every ton of garbage buried in a landfill and every factory chugging pollutants into the air.  I just think it's a shame that we're ruining the planet for everything/everyone else who doesn't want to live this way.  I also think it's a shame that it might take a few hundred years for the reality of our failure to catch up with blissninny dreamland we get piped into every home through the Magic Of TV.

I find it difficult to ignore the stupidity of those people completely happy to skip and sing on the way down the gullet of a Dragon of our own making, yet I don't see any other options than to walk right next to them.  But I'll be damned if I'll be happy about it.

It was also an invitation to eliminate my existence from the face of the planet.  I do not fear death.  Ass

I am a work in progress, till I die.

The Truth is a difficult thing.  It keeps changing from one moment to the next.  Just when you think you,Äôve got it, it slips out from under your feet.  Yet we keep trying, we keep looking around at the world trying to make sense of it all.  We keep asking ourselves the same questions, just in different ways.  We wonder if we,Äôll get to the end with still no more answers than when we started.  The sad truth is that no one can tell us with any certainty exactly what it is we,Äôre headed toward, yet we can,Äôt just sit down in the middle of the road and watch life pass by.  We each have to go through it and hope that things will turn out all right in the end.  We flock to the old standards of Heroes fighting impossible odds to finally prove superior to the Evil Villain (who himself epitomizes the darker sides of ourselves) in order to win the attentions of the ,ÄúPerfect Match,Äù (the One True Love with whom we will never be cross or disappointed).  We hold out hope day after day for our own lives, happiness and fulfillment because the Hero always wins.  Yet increasingly I see people telling stories of Reality, stories about the times in your life you realize that there are some things you can't take back.  There are stories out there that helped me see.  This is one of mine.

For some people, the ever-dangling Carrot of Bliss just isn,Äôt enough, and they start to look around them.  If they look hard enough in different places eventually they find reward and stumble upon something attainable, something visceral and real.  Some people hold onto what they find, assuming that because it is the first taste of Truth they,Äôve had that it holds the sum of Truth for everybody else.  Others get curious about the rewards that can be found by a ,Äúshare and share alike,Äù mentality.  Some people are never satisfied once they,Äôve tasted something, flitting from one thing to the next, without ever completely committing.  Others learn the trick of Taste with Appreciation, of Experience with Meaning. 

Along with the Carrot there always comes the Stick of Reprimand.  Some people learn to fear the pain and do everything in their power to avoid it.  Some people get addicted to it, so much so that when they find a truth they spit it back out again.  Others have the thought, however briefly, to see where that stick is coming from.  Imagine their surprise when they realize that the sticks are all held by people just like them.  The idea of correction is necessary, because without a new idea there can be no growth, but once people realize where the correction comes from they become individuals. 

Individuals become selective in the others they will allow to correct them, some deciding to eliminate everyone else's sticks entirely.  Society is simply about having the most advantageous sticks in place for the good of the individual and the group.  A small truth is that we have to work with the environment we live in.  I tried waving a magic wand three times clockwise, but there was no ,ÄúPoof!,Äù  The bigger truth is that we get to work with what we make.  If your particular view of the world should be shared, then give, but don,Äôt force it.  Offer someone your Truth, but take a bite of theirs too, and only use the process of correction to make things better.

I'm not sure what to do with all of my thoughts to get them to the most appropriate audience, where I can influence the most people, but I figured I'd share with you all, and ask for ideas.  I've never set up websites, but I'm learning what I can.  Also, I don't mind intelligent criticism.  I hope to post more, but I spend most of my time reading what I've found peripherally off this site and others about the state of the world. 


Capitalism.  The American Way.  A ,ÄúSurvival of the Fittest,Äù struggle for dominance in the financial arena, the modern Coliseum.  The people who inherit the earth are the ones who can own it.  It,Äôs a simple con, really.  Just convince somebody that something has value, and get something better out of them in trade.  They have made the biggest game in town ,ÄúLet,Äôs see who can own more stuff.,Äù  It may just have been a natural convergence of the Alpha Males of the hairless ape.  But then I remember that there are people who are trained by right of birth to expect to influence the world.  There are people who are prepared from pre-conception to uphold the ideals of the privileged class. 

Inherent human tendency is to justify superiority over anyone whose experience in life is different than your own.  It,Äôs reinforced by the natural desire to support the school one is assigned to, to cheer for the home team.  But every interaction in people,Äôs lives is based on me against you, or us against them.  The dangerous thing is how people have risen from successive generations to own 90% of everything in America, and unrelentingly plot to own the rest of the world.  People make it their sole mission in life to part other people from their paychecks.  Every advertisement that we come across as a matter of courseα, hundreds of times a day, and rising, is the result of greedy people trying to make money.  Every new product screams that it will make your life better, easier, more comfortable.  The cost is deferred on ,ÄúNo Payments, No Interest ,Äòtil Three Years From Now!,Äù  ,ÄúAct now to lock in this GREAT interest rate!,Äù

There is always a cost to pay, sometime.

Every day there are more people adding their voices to the symphony of intelligent thought.  Scientists who have spent their lives in pursuit of all knowledge in a given field have come from many specialties to tell the world about the consequences of global warming, pollution, fossil fuel use, the rainforest, and the list goes on.  THE PLANET IS DYING!  Every year there are more people trying to live like Americans.  Every culture that emulates the piss poor behavior of Consumerist America helps to drag the furthest edge of the future a step closer to the present.  The US produces a quarter of the world,Äôs garbage.  We only have five percent of the population.  Ruthless business practices have produced fledgling industries in other countries where government oversight might be lacking.  All the time, the people who make the money instil Their particular brand of ethic upon the indigenous population, setting a horrendous example of ,ÄúBusiness as Usual.,Äù 

The American people do not realize the severity of the situation.  Like all people, they are concerned with what concerns them, taking care of the kids, trying to afford all the stuff they,Äôve been sold, and the never ending quest to get the work done.  Joe Everyman thinks that because his life ain,Äôt so bad, as a matter of fact, then it,Äôs just going to stay that way.  He thinks that Tsunamis and Hurricanes happen to somebody else.  He thinks that it,Äôs a shame that gas prices keep going up, coincidentally along with record profits.  But mainly he thinks that it,Äôs his God given right. 

The American people have been sold the worst kind of propaganda.  The lie is that they have the right to not care about anything but comfort.  They have been told from birth that if you work hard enough you can live a life of luxury.  That if you don,Äôt work at all, you still deserve enough to get by.  And the quality of what we need to ,Äújust get by,Äù is in reality a level of comfort that would seem unimaginable to the rest of the world.  The entire nation has gone to sleep.  I don,Äôt know if it was the effect of ever increasing technology, the dividends of creative minds, or if there was a Lullaby playing in the background to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner.  What I DO knαow is that the people in America need to open their eyes and realize that when the World Community protects themselves against the direction that Our Elected Leaders are taking the planet, they are not the threat they,Äôll appear.  Joe Everyman will need to understand that voices of rationality have to prevail against the propaganda.  Difficult decisions are ahead for more than just America, but I feel that if there is a world wide understanding of Wise Courses of Action, then the outcome will be favorable.

Some perspectives I've been having lately.

Power is the ability to get other people to do what you want them to.  People all over the world and for as far back as history records, have vied for control of others.  War, government, religion, family, work, school, everything in life is about doing what is expected of you, or not.  Those who do not conform will be punished.  Strong over weak, clever over stupid, resources over no resources.  Everything comes down to control and the pack mentality.  Every group that people identify with becomes a pack.  Some people belong in the back of every pack they're a part of.  Some people will never be satisfied until they are in charge of every pack they are a part of.  Humans are social animals, constantly preoccupied with hierarchy, worth, and status.  "I am better than you and I need you to tell me you understand, or I will attack you until you do." 

Eris told me once, "You're unique, just like everyone else."  I try to realize that I am no better than everyone else, but somehow I'm not convinced.  I see other's mistakes, and their inability to process information to the degree that I can and get frustrated.  I feel a need to be the boss, which makes me want to rally others to my opinions, yet, when I look in the mirror I find that I make mistakes as well.  I find that there are and were many times when someone else gave me information in a way that I couldn't process, that I have been "dumb" myself.  The difference is timing, is perspective, is living in the moment and being flexible in order to accept new information, adapt it to fit the things I'm working on, and adapt myself to include the new, while not losing the lessons of everything else that came before.

Eris provides me with that sense of being my own highest authority, yet the feeling of being a part of something larger.  It allows people to be the leaders of their own pack, while recognizing everyone else's right to do so.  It forms a social model that shows, not tells, that we are what we choose to be, so we should choose well.

When I found discordianism I was floored that there were other people who think about things intelligently, and even when there seems to be no logic, it is done in a way that stimulates my brain to higher pursuits.  I find myself in the minority of the masses because I enjoy a challenge, because my brain feels good when it must exercise.  I am completely convinced that there is enough oddity and chaos in the universe to attract any mind that is curious enough to Discordia, yet I feel that I need somehow to let my own voice ring from the rooftops proclaiming "Wake the FUCK up, Sheep!  There is LIFE to be lived!  There is FUN to be had!  Do whatever YOU want to!"  To which my imaginary ANTI voice yells "Shut up, It's three AM, and I just got my infant to sleep, and I have a huge presentation for the boss tomorrow, and I kind of like not having to think for myself about the mysteries of the universe, I mean, really, does it put food on my table?"  At which point the original thought voice replies, "Why bother living if you're just trying to get to the end?"  Then, the ANTI voice realizes that it won't change the other's mind, shuts the window, turns off the light, and goes to bed, but lies awake thinking. 

Therein lies the conundrum.  How to balance practicality with ideology?  It's easy to walk around fnording all the time, just to get attention, but it is difficult to find the exact moment when the universe wants you to fnord, in order to make life better for you and everyone else around you.  Fuck the minds, challenge paradigm, walk the levels of perspective from small to great, then rotate 90* and do it all over again, until we're all skewed, but do it in a way that makes things better than they were before.

Without pain there can be no change.  Without change there can be no growth.  Things often hurt before they get better.  Pain is necessary.  Being uncomfortable is inherent in life.  The trick is to take perspective from the pain, and change to avoid it, or accept it.  The better trick is to seek the best changes before having to go through the pain in the first place.