On the whole, thought and action have a lot to do with it.
A myriad of systems interlocked in one all-inclusive organismachine-driven system. Pulleys and levers, meters and knobs, dials and buttons, lasers and holograms, plants and animals. Explosions, implosions, stasis. A static liver. Time without duration, and space without form.
Within and beyond the eternal system, the divine light of all minds, we see a window. The window allows visual and sensory access to all of creation, paradoxically this awareness is not seperate from the whole system itself. This loophole allows the One to believe it is Two, and is the mother of all duality.
Having never known the difference between One and Two, the Whole Being has only its own illusion to believe in. This illusion is human perception, and it is all we can ever know. The funny thing is, this perception is not indicated as being anything in particular. It is a given circumstance.
This Primary Illusion of Perception creates the condition whereby the Supreme Being may trick itself into believing that it is a separate ego; a tree, a rock, a body of water, a human, or a fish. The borders between this and that are simply non-existent. Can you really see where one begins and another ends?
All fits together as a puzzle, simply because it is not a puzzle at all. All is One, but this cannot be "realized" simply because it already is "real."
So there is no longer any problem. There never was, and I am a dreadful hoax.
___________
Onward! yells the deaf old duck
For rather winters ever plucked
from old yarn boxes, dust and torn
All withered leaves did rusty horn
Or saw great limbs from trees did make
For weather wonders, rainbow cake
We mixed our grill with fresh of face
That sizzles greasy smiley place
Because a water fountain spews
and luncheons served in all the pews
Did many basket weavers look
to burn destroy in fire, Book.
___________
Chapter 14: Yogurt Tastes Better Than Money, Human
A sweaty, wrinkled sock lies motionless on the floor of my disgusting bathroom. I got a 4 on the term test offered to incoming students. Stabbed with pens in the eye, ripped veins in the face of a human. Beautiful rainbow chocolate happy sexy bombs in Iraq. Digging shovels for sand sharks with ragged gravel.
The President of the United States has strong muscles and arms. He is tight and toned, tanned and in tip-top shape. He bent me over the desk in the Oval Office and Officially pounded my sad ass. He grabbed me by the ears and whispered through clenched teeth, "I will take away your virginity!!!!"
This is not an accusation, armored cops in black ski masks.
In the information age we can expect a lot of three-dimensional typos. Vacant lots full of damaged snakes and apricots.
Through the prism of my unclean mind, a family of squirrels live peacefully in my backyard while Rome is burning. I feel a slow motion scene in my head of George W. Bush driving a flaming chariot across deserts of happenstance, screaming righteous Biblical passages and flecks of spit. The mangled corpses of raped women and char-broiled babies paving the path for American Liberty and National Justice, all licensed by the FCC. Faith-based organizations bow at the very nudge of his knees.
A swarm of killer bees descends on a family in Rhodes Island. New York City stands tall against the firestorm of hatred.
Seattle leans towards the killer skies, and Dallas, Texas takes it easy with a cigarette in stride.
San Francisco wipes gays and Los Angeles pounds with the best of a thousand years. Slaming violet testicles upon a wall of angel fire. Destroying all that was lost from the Holocaust, an asteroid eraser with the sound of a million loons calling to Sirius.
Beating around the Bush, hitting old ladies in the head for 55 dollars. Is there our way or the highway? Is nothing lost? Does nickels aren't because whereabouts?
Verily I leant toward him, and whispered, "CHEESE!!!!!! YOU FUCKING JACKASS!!!!"
He blearily awoke with a start, and I smelled his foot. Disgusting. Lame brain, chicken turkey blowhard Rapheal Jesus pickles vagina omen O'Malley. Happy Virgin Mary. Happy Everything and a year. Goodbye to all tomorrows and hello to all of yesterday's todays. Suprise to Vanessa for her child is dying.
A basket of bagels was the gift I gave to a growing crowd of older men. Simply put, impressions are first and foremost. A purple welt on my face from being whipped with a chain of thorns.
Disgusting.
The President of the United States has strong muscles and arms. He is tight and toned, tanned and in tip-top shape. He bent me over the desk in the Oval Office and Officially pounded my sad ass. He grabbed me by the ears and whispered through clenched teeth, "I will take away your virginity!!!!"
This is not an accusation, armored cops in black ski masks.
In the information age we can expect a lot of three-dimensional typos. Vacant lots full of damaged snakes and apricots.
Through the prism of my unclean mind, a family of squirrels live peacefully in my backyard while Rome is burning. I feel a slow motion scene in my head of George W. Bush driving a flaming chariot across deserts of happenstance, screaming righteous Biblical passages and flecks of spit. The mangled corpses of raped women and char-broiled babies paving the path for American Liberty and National Justice, all licensed by the FCC. Faith-based organizations bow at the very nudge of his knees.
A swarm of killer bees descends on a family in Rhodes Island. New York City stands tall against the firestorm of hatred.
Seattle leans towards the killer skies, and Dallas, Texas takes it easy with a cigarette in stride.
San Francisco wipes gays and Los Angeles pounds with the best of a thousand years. Slaming violet testicles upon a wall of angel fire. Destroying all that was lost from the Holocaust, an asteroid eraser with the sound of a million loons calling to Sirius.
Beating around the Bush, hitting old ladies in the head for 55 dollars. Is there our way or the highway? Is nothing lost? Does nickels aren't because whereabouts?
Verily I leant toward him, and whispered, "CHEESE!!!!!! YOU FUCKING JACKASS!!!!"
He blearily awoke with a start, and I smelled his foot. Disgusting. Lame brain, chicken turkey blowhard Rapheal Jesus pickles vagina omen O'Malley. Happy Virgin Mary. Happy Everything and a year. Goodbye to all tomorrows and hello to all of yesterday's todays. Suprise to Vanessa for her child is dying.
A basket of bagels was the gift I gave to a growing crowd of older men. Simply put, impressions are first and foremost. A purple welt on my face from being whipped with a chain of thorns.
Disgusting.
Chapter 15: Phoebe
Today we are going to examine one of the largest and silliest organizations in the world, The Christian Religion.
Christianity is a veritable labyrinth of exciting half-truths, meaningless proclamations, declarations and vague stories with little or no credibility. Like most religions, it holds onto some pretty wacky beliefs, but first and foremost, it says that the universe was created in seven days by a single male entity named "God."
According to the Bible, God rules the heavens and the Earth, and passes judgement on all people and things. When you die, God gets to decide whether you are to live with him in Heaven, or go to Hell and live with his arch-nemesis, "Satan." Satan is a really awful red person with a forked tail and horns. Hell is constantly on fire, and if you get sent there, you'll suffer in excruciating agony for the rest of eternity.
Conversely, God is like the nicest person ever, and Heaven is totally perfect in every way. Everyone wants to go to heaven and live with God.
God is also famous for sending his only son, Jesus, down to Earth to live as a human. Jesus was born of a complete virgin, on Christmas, and he spent most of his life on Earth saying some very interesting things and a lot of people followed him around. One time he turned water into wine. He also walked on water and did some cool stuff with loaves and fishes. But then everyone decided he was blasphemous and so they nailed him to a huge wooden cross and he died. Only he didn't actually die, because he rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, as easily as you or I might ascend the rungs of a ladder.
Finally, Jesus opened the gates of Heaven and saved us all from our misdeeds, which was really cool of him. Some people are totally obsessed with Jesus because he is so chill. People wear crosses around their necks to show that they love Jesus, even though Jesus got nailed to a cross and died.
So, Christians are supposed to model their own lives after Jesus, because he was totally perfect (just like his dad, God). To help with this, Christianity has compiled a huge list of "sins," or things that God forbids you to do. Ten of the most basic sins are listed below:
1) Saying God's name in any context besides praising Him
2) Spending the Sabbath day doing anything besides praying
3) Practicing any religion other than Christianity
4) Telling your parents to screw off
5) Taking someone else's stuff
6) Wishing you had someone else's stuff
7) Wishing you had someone else's woman
8) Cheatin' on your wife or husband
9) Lyin'
10) Murderin'
There are also seven "deadly sins" that manifest themselves as character traits. They are: wrath, gluttony, sloth, envy, pride, greed and lust. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman starred in a movie about these sins. As terrible as all these sins are, none of them compare to the biggest sin of all: "the Original Sin."
The Original Sin occured when Adam and Eve (the first people ever), ate fruit from a tree when God specfically told them not to. That made them realize they were naked and they felt ashamed. They screwed up really bad, and God was pissed off, so then everyone else had to be born with Original Sin right from the start, except for Jesus and his mom. So even if you're totally good, it doesn't matter because you're guilty of original sin! Thanks a lot, Adam and Eve (not!).
It can also be sinful to waste food or money, to have premarital sex, or to engage in any homosexual activities. But above all, the Lord's greatest commandment is that we "love one another." That's what Jesus said anyway.
So let us look at what we cannot do.
We can't worship nature like pagans or have orgies in the wilderness with nymphs and satyrs, that's right out. We can't engage in the sacramental worship of psychoactive compounds found in nature, like marijuana, DMT, psilocybin mushrooms or alcohol. And we certainly can't spend our lives naked and free, running around in the forest in perfect harmony with all other animals. Nudity is connected to the Original Sin, and we should dress in darkness so that we are not an occasion of sin to ourselves.
We cannot practice other religions, so that includes Hinduism, which holds that All is Brahman, and everything is connected. We can't explore Buddhism, which has a basic tenet of nothingness and a void within a void within another void. We can't explore Zen, with its system of non-system, its basic tenet being simply, "attention." Nor can we try Taoism, started by Lao Tzu, who declared that, "the way that can be trodden is not the true, undying Way." These religions are too weird and vague for any self-respecting Christian.
Certainly, a Christian has no business converting to Islam, with its five pillars and weird pilgrimages to Mecca; fasting for months, and the 40 virgins waiting for you in paradise.
But above all, a Christian shall not view Judaism as anything other than a quaint little tradition practiced by a bunch of well-meaning people that will all eventually burn in eternal Hell-fire.
I remember asking my first grade teacher at Catholic elementary school whether Jews went to heaven and she said, "Well I don't really know, but my guess would be....probably not."
And keep in mind that Christianity is 50% Jewish. Almost half of the Bible, the sacred book of the Christians, is just a reprinting of the Torah, the sacred book of the Jews.
Of course, there is no greater sin than homosexuality. This is because Man and Woman form a sacred bond blah blah that cannot be surpassed so on and so forth. And the Bible clearly states, "One man shall not be joined with another man--in his butt." (Ez Ch 4 11-32)
Then you read about all the weird child sodomy that goes on behind closed doors at your local Catholic church, and you wonder, do priests get a special pass? Why is it ok for a "holy man" to engage in butt sex with little boys, if it's not ok for Todd and Ralph to enjoy sweaty man love in the shower?
When word gets out that a priest is molesting children, several things happen. First, the Bishop yells at him, and spanks his holy bottom, and then tells him to go and be a priest in a different city where no one knows about him yet. But two full grown men will go to Hell forever if they so much as think about "colon-plunging" one another.
To be fair, I understand that the Catholic church is taking the child molestation thing a little more seriously now, and they have offered to pay the victims to keep quiet about their horrible experiences.
I forgot to mention, the sin department is a two-sided coin. You can repent for your sins, and God will forgive you. He has to. He's a big softie. That's what's so great about sinning and that's why there are so many cool sins you can commit. You can even do two sins at once, to create fun sin-combos! Adultery and murder anyone?
All you have to do is, after you commit a sin, go to "Confession" or 'Reconcilliation." You walk into a dimly lit room, kneel down before the priest (who probably groped you the day before, that sly old devil) and tell him all the sins you committed, and that you're sorry. Try to actually sound like you're sorry, and that you want to ask Jesus for some serious forgiveness.
Then, after the priest is done molesting you, he gives you some prayers to say, mumbles some words of his own and "absolves" you of your sins. After you say your prayers, your sins magically disappear! Even if you murder an entire family with a rusty pair of scissors, you can be forgiven by God!!! If only the American Court System worked the same way!!!
The only way you won't be forgiven is if you commit a Mortal Sin. In order for a sin to be considered "mortal," you cannot feel any remorse for what you've done, and it has to be a really bad sin (like rape, murder, mass genocide or homosexuality). You might be excommunicated from the church if you commit a mortal sin.
And if you get excommunicated from the church, you automatically go to Hell.
Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior yet?
Christianity is a veritable labyrinth of exciting half-truths, meaningless proclamations, declarations and vague stories with little or no credibility. Like most religions, it holds onto some pretty wacky beliefs, but first and foremost, it says that the universe was created in seven days by a single male entity named "God."
According to the Bible, God rules the heavens and the Earth, and passes judgement on all people and things. When you die, God gets to decide whether you are to live with him in Heaven, or go to Hell and live with his arch-nemesis, "Satan." Satan is a really awful red person with a forked tail and horns. Hell is constantly on fire, and if you get sent there, you'll suffer in excruciating agony for the rest of eternity.
Conversely, God is like the nicest person ever, and Heaven is totally perfect in every way. Everyone wants to go to heaven and live with God.
God is also famous for sending his only son, Jesus, down to Earth to live as a human. Jesus was born of a complete virgin, on Christmas, and he spent most of his life on Earth saying some very interesting things and a lot of people followed him around. One time he turned water into wine. He also walked on water and did some cool stuff with loaves and fishes. But then everyone decided he was blasphemous and so they nailed him to a huge wooden cross and he died. Only he didn't actually die, because he rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, as easily as you or I might ascend the rungs of a ladder.
Finally, Jesus opened the gates of Heaven and saved us all from our misdeeds, which was really cool of him. Some people are totally obsessed with Jesus because he is so chill. People wear crosses around their necks to show that they love Jesus, even though Jesus got nailed to a cross and died.
So, Christians are supposed to model their own lives after Jesus, because he was totally perfect (just like his dad, God). To help with this, Christianity has compiled a huge list of "sins," or things that God forbids you to do. Ten of the most basic sins are listed below:
1) Saying God's name in any context besides praising Him
2) Spending the Sabbath day doing anything besides praying
3) Practicing any religion other than Christianity
4) Telling your parents to screw off
5) Taking someone else's stuff
6) Wishing you had someone else's stuff
7) Wishing you had someone else's woman
8) Cheatin' on your wife or husband
9) Lyin'
10) Murderin'
There are also seven "deadly sins" that manifest themselves as character traits. They are: wrath, gluttony, sloth, envy, pride, greed and lust. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman starred in a movie about these sins. As terrible as all these sins are, none of them compare to the biggest sin of all: "the Original Sin."
The Original Sin occured when Adam and Eve (the first people ever), ate fruit from a tree when God specfically told them not to. That made them realize they were naked and they felt ashamed. They screwed up really bad, and God was pissed off, so then everyone else had to be born with Original Sin right from the start, except for Jesus and his mom. So even if you're totally good, it doesn't matter because you're guilty of original sin! Thanks a lot, Adam and Eve (not!).
It can also be sinful to waste food or money, to have premarital sex, or to engage in any homosexual activities. But above all, the Lord's greatest commandment is that we "love one another." That's what Jesus said anyway.
So let us look at what we cannot do.
We can't worship nature like pagans or have orgies in the wilderness with nymphs and satyrs, that's right out. We can't engage in the sacramental worship of psychoactive compounds found in nature, like marijuana, DMT, psilocybin mushrooms or alcohol. And we certainly can't spend our lives naked and free, running around in the forest in perfect harmony with all other animals. Nudity is connected to the Original Sin, and we should dress in darkness so that we are not an occasion of sin to ourselves.
We cannot practice other religions, so that includes Hinduism, which holds that All is Brahman, and everything is connected. We can't explore Buddhism, which has a basic tenet of nothingness and a void within a void within another void. We can't explore Zen, with its system of non-system, its basic tenet being simply, "attention." Nor can we try Taoism, started by Lao Tzu, who declared that, "the way that can be trodden is not the true, undying Way." These religions are too weird and vague for any self-respecting Christian.
Certainly, a Christian has no business converting to Islam, with its five pillars and weird pilgrimages to Mecca; fasting for months, and the 40 virgins waiting for you in paradise.
But above all, a Christian shall not view Judaism as anything other than a quaint little tradition practiced by a bunch of well-meaning people that will all eventually burn in eternal Hell-fire.
I remember asking my first grade teacher at Catholic elementary school whether Jews went to heaven and she said, "Well I don't really know, but my guess would be....probably not."
And keep in mind that Christianity is 50% Jewish. Almost half of the Bible, the sacred book of the Christians, is just a reprinting of the Torah, the sacred book of the Jews.
Of course, there is no greater sin than homosexuality. This is because Man and Woman form a sacred bond blah blah that cannot be surpassed so on and so forth. And the Bible clearly states, "One man shall not be joined with another man--in his butt." (Ez Ch 4 11-32)
Then you read about all the weird child sodomy that goes on behind closed doors at your local Catholic church, and you wonder, do priests get a special pass? Why is it ok for a "holy man" to engage in butt sex with little boys, if it's not ok for Todd and Ralph to enjoy sweaty man love in the shower?
When word gets out that a priest is molesting children, several things happen. First, the Bishop yells at him, and spanks his holy bottom, and then tells him to go and be a priest in a different city where no one knows about him yet. But two full grown men will go to Hell forever if they so much as think about "colon-plunging" one another.
To be fair, I understand that the Catholic church is taking the child molestation thing a little more seriously now, and they have offered to pay the victims to keep quiet about their horrible experiences.
I forgot to mention, the sin department is a two-sided coin. You can repent for your sins, and God will forgive you. He has to. He's a big softie. That's what's so great about sinning and that's why there are so many cool sins you can commit. You can even do two sins at once, to create fun sin-combos! Adultery and murder anyone?
All you have to do is, after you commit a sin, go to "Confession" or 'Reconcilliation." You walk into a dimly lit room, kneel down before the priest (who probably groped you the day before, that sly old devil) and tell him all the sins you committed, and that you're sorry. Try to actually sound like you're sorry, and that you want to ask Jesus for some serious forgiveness.
Then, after the priest is done molesting you, he gives you some prayers to say, mumbles some words of his own and "absolves" you of your sins. After you say your prayers, your sins magically disappear! Even if you murder an entire family with a rusty pair of scissors, you can be forgiven by God!!! If only the American Court System worked the same way!!!
The only way you won't be forgiven is if you commit a Mortal Sin. In order for a sin to be considered "mortal," you cannot feel any remorse for what you've done, and it has to be a really bad sin (like rape, murder, mass genocide or homosexuality). You might be excommunicated from the church if you commit a mortal sin.
And if you get excommunicated from the church, you automatically go to Hell.
Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior yet?
Chapter 16: Sixth Purple Bingus
It is infinitely easier to describe how you think things "ought to be." It is almost impossible to describe things "as they really are."
We humans almost never get to see things, as they are. We usually only see the world, as it seems to us.
If we could see things for what they really are, it would be a more profound experience than any personal experience we've ever had, any emotion we've ever felt, any religious belief we've ever held, or anything we could ever imagine.
"Things as they truly are," is such a loaded expression, and it suggests something obscure or religious, but we actually mean "things" as they ACTUALLY are, not how they seem, or appear to our perceptual apparatus. It sounds profound, because we are talking about the very nature of existence, but "the nature of existence" is the simplest thing of all. It's the one thing that cannot be explained simply because it doesn't have to be.
At best, people are able to catch glimpses of Actuality (aka. things as they truly are). This is not because Actuality is hard to find or understand; rather it is because the human mind has a tendency to over-complicate things. Actuality is of the utmost simplicity, and our detail-obsessed mind cannot step back and see the forest from the trees, so to speak.
It is to realize that we are truly part of an infinitely larger whole.
It is that we live on a planet that floats among the cosmos; an unfathomable region of energy and unknowable potential.
In this vast ocean of happenstance we find ourself. A small, confused organism. And we experience.
It's not hard to see. But it's even easier to ignore. Some people will be gifted with glimpses, and others may never see, but it will always and has always been available forever to everyone.
We humans almost never get to see things, as they are. We usually only see the world, as it seems to us.
If we could see things for what they really are, it would be a more profound experience than any personal experience we've ever had, any emotion we've ever felt, any religious belief we've ever held, or anything we could ever imagine.
"Things as they truly are," is such a loaded expression, and it suggests something obscure or religious, but we actually mean "things" as they ACTUALLY are, not how they seem, or appear to our perceptual apparatus. It sounds profound, because we are talking about the very nature of existence, but "the nature of existence" is the simplest thing of all. It's the one thing that cannot be explained simply because it doesn't have to be.
At best, people are able to catch glimpses of Actuality (aka. things as they truly are). This is not because Actuality is hard to find or understand; rather it is because the human mind has a tendency to over-complicate things. Actuality is of the utmost simplicity, and our detail-obsessed mind cannot step back and see the forest from the trees, so to speak.
It is to realize that we are truly part of an infinitely larger whole.
It is that we live on a planet that floats among the cosmos; an unfathomable region of energy and unknowable potential.
In this vast ocean of happenstance we find ourself. A small, confused organism. And we experience.
It's not hard to see. But it's even easier to ignore. Some people will be gifted with glimpses, and others may never see, but it will always and has always been available forever to everyone.
Chapter 17: Earthchess
President Bush, facing opposition from both parties over his plan to send more troops to Iraq, said he has the authority to act no matter what Congress wants. He is an insane little boy with frogs in his pants.
"I fully understand they could try to stop me from doing it. But I've made my decision. And we're going forward."
The people of America were too busy working for wages. Seventy people protested in the middle of Times Square. Nothing changed.
The leather-bound books in the study gave off a powerful musk.
"The president is the commander in chief. He's the one who has to make these tough decisions," Cheney said through his yellow demon-teeth with an unfriendly sneer.
Many [stupid] people have suggested that it would be wise to withdraw from Iraq, and stop killing people. They say that the war has no purpose, no merit, and absolutely no relation to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.
Responding to that, Cheney said the most dangerous blunder would be to give up on the global fight against terrorism because the United States has decided the war in Iraq is too difficult. That is just what America's terrorist enemies are counting on, he said.
"They're convinced that the United States will pack it in and go home if they just kill enough of us," Cheney said. "They can't beat us in a standup fight, but they think they can break our will."
We are murderers, not heros! We are spreading death, not freedom! The "insurgents" as they are called, are trying to get rid of us because we do not belong there! Go home, America!!!
People are dying for no real purpose, and their deaths have no meaning. They died for the hell of it, fighting for a childish political ideal that made no sense. Families are losing members to a mindless parade of violence. The disgusting bloated corpses of dead children lying amidst burning rubble. Hell on Earth.
In America, a wave of apathy sweeps the nation. People attend anti-war protests in the same way they would a Tupperware party. Cynicism is more widespread than ever. The endless stream of information confuses and overwhelms us, until we feel altogether alienated, depressed, and alone.
We are losing our greatest gift as human beings, that is our power of awareness. Instead we are becoming more and more aware of ourselves, rendering us almost incapable of communicating at all. We are losing our sense of collectivity and becoming self-obsessed zombies; islands of consciousness becoming more isolated by the minute.
Complete and unfiltered awareness of things "as they are" is the natural state of the mind. The way we understand things is based entirely on our own perspective of life and the universe--our very self. We appoint ourself as the viewer and the decider, and we "understand" or make sense of things in whatever way works best for us. But understanding, or comprehension, is an abstract and meaningless process with no practical purpose. Understood?
Like Bush, though, Cheney said Americans need to look at the war in Iraq as part of a much longer effort.
"This is an existential conflict," Cheney said. "It is the kind of conflict that's going to drive our policy and our government for the next 20 or 30 or 40 years. We have to prevail and we have to have the stomach for the fight long term."
A greasy wad of paper embedded in a sewer grate. A tire puddle splash muddy water into your glasses, rape and murder. Parents roasting their babies in the oven. Crackheads stabbing old ladies in the face with broken bottles! Disease! Genocide! Mutilation!
Silence. Like a thunderous roar from the jaws of a transparent plastic toy lion. Insert 25 cents.
Please leave your soul at the front desk. Like when you were five years old on a grey day, lost in the rain, alone on a late road, nothing looks familiar.
"I fully understand they could try to stop me from doing it. But I've made my decision. And we're going forward."
The people of America were too busy working for wages. Seventy people protested in the middle of Times Square. Nothing changed.
The leather-bound books in the study gave off a powerful musk.
"The president is the commander in chief. He's the one who has to make these tough decisions," Cheney said through his yellow demon-teeth with an unfriendly sneer.
Many [stupid] people have suggested that it would be wise to withdraw from Iraq, and stop killing people. They say that the war has no purpose, no merit, and absolutely no relation to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.
Responding to that, Cheney said the most dangerous blunder would be to give up on the global fight against terrorism because the United States has decided the war in Iraq is too difficult. That is just what America's terrorist enemies are counting on, he said.
"They're convinced that the United States will pack it in and go home if they just kill enough of us," Cheney said. "They can't beat us in a standup fight, but they think they can break our will."
We are murderers, not heros! We are spreading death, not freedom! The "insurgents" as they are called, are trying to get rid of us because we do not belong there! Go home, America!!!
People are dying for no real purpose, and their deaths have no meaning. They died for the hell of it, fighting for a childish political ideal that made no sense. Families are losing members to a mindless parade of violence. The disgusting bloated corpses of dead children lying amidst burning rubble. Hell on Earth.
In America, a wave of apathy sweeps the nation. People attend anti-war protests in the same way they would a Tupperware party. Cynicism is more widespread than ever. The endless stream of information confuses and overwhelms us, until we feel altogether alienated, depressed, and alone.
We are losing our greatest gift as human beings, that is our power of awareness. Instead we are becoming more and more aware of ourselves, rendering us almost incapable of communicating at all. We are losing our sense of collectivity and becoming self-obsessed zombies; islands of consciousness becoming more isolated by the minute.
Complete and unfiltered awareness of things "as they are" is the natural state of the mind. The way we understand things is based entirely on our own perspective of life and the universe--our very self. We appoint ourself as the viewer and the decider, and we "understand" or make sense of things in whatever way works best for us. But understanding, or comprehension, is an abstract and meaningless process with no practical purpose. Understood?
Like Bush, though, Cheney said Americans need to look at the war in Iraq as part of a much longer effort.
"This is an existential conflict," Cheney said. "It is the kind of conflict that's going to drive our policy and our government for the next 20 or 30 or 40 years. We have to prevail and we have to have the stomach for the fight long term."
A greasy wad of paper embedded in a sewer grate. A tire puddle splash muddy water into your glasses, rape and murder. Parents roasting their babies in the oven. Crackheads stabbing old ladies in the face with broken bottles! Disease! Genocide! Mutilation!
Silence. Like a thunderous roar from the jaws of a transparent plastic toy lion. Insert 25 cents.
Please leave your soul at the front desk. Like when you were five years old on a grey day, lost in the rain, alone on a late road, nothing looks familiar.
Chapter 18: Carbon
A wristwatch bending in grass fields of vest and dusted farmland photographs. I printed images of long times ago with a million other old grandmothers; teeth twisting and squawking, reminders of the the last grey, wispy wisdom for over our world; as the teapot (wearily) whistles. The cold raindrops fainted down the black metal of the street lamp light away in the distance.
Dry leaves crunch under heavy boots with mud, shit, and old wet grass mashed into the sole ravines. Where steam in the cold from your breath encircles your head on a cloud (6 degrees fair in height). The television stopped working we had to get it repaired the whole week seemed to last years, and we never remembered how sad it got in here with cats and no electricity.
This was a photo of a tire swing hanging on the limb of a black tree, on a real, grey, cold day without snow. Dark grass with faint green hinting in the black; crows out of the corners of my eyes cackle and swoop, standing on top of the Old Barn.
The door to the empty farmhouse blows open and shut; grey hangs in the sky like cobwebs, thunder and old paper cups crumple and blow away; no one is around, not even you.
A bottle on the rusty bridge; glass rattles and wobbles in the icy gusts, and the small puddle of beer at the bottom waves back and forth; slowly freezes. A thin froth foams on the mouth. Everything is drying up, colder and colder by the minute.
At the edge of the forest, there is a highway. Anonymous cars scream past with the bright lights like mad eyes in the night...
In the trees, crouched, nobody waits, nothing happens. A sinister purple hand grabs the sky and pulls it like the skin on your legs, scratching against the needles of the tallest pine. The marble moon stares silently, floating in who knows what.
A hole where the heart of the trees would pound, now remains, severed roots surround it dark and centipedes crawl in it. The old paper cup blows by, crumpled and worn.
The plants have no expressions on the faces they do not have. Their life is a series of slow gestures, growing into a pose and drying up for want of anything to do. All the birds are gone, except for the crows and the owl, if it still exists. The ground is hellishly brimming with insects and vile worms, maggots and rotting logs.
The sky is gone, and all above is clear now. The forest is a room with the roof ripped off, and we can see forever into the distance of time and nothingness. The moon shouts back in white or grey mirror lights, waves and waits.
Dry leaves crunch under heavy boots with mud, shit, and old wet grass mashed into the sole ravines. Where steam in the cold from your breath encircles your head on a cloud (6 degrees fair in height). The television stopped working we had to get it repaired the whole week seemed to last years, and we never remembered how sad it got in here with cats and no electricity.
This was a photo of a tire swing hanging on the limb of a black tree, on a real, grey, cold day without snow. Dark grass with faint green hinting in the black; crows out of the corners of my eyes cackle and swoop, standing on top of the Old Barn.
The door to the empty farmhouse blows open and shut; grey hangs in the sky like cobwebs, thunder and old paper cups crumple and blow away; no one is around, not even you.
A bottle on the rusty bridge; glass rattles and wobbles in the icy gusts, and the small puddle of beer at the bottom waves back and forth; slowly freezes. A thin froth foams on the mouth. Everything is drying up, colder and colder by the minute.
At the edge of the forest, there is a highway. Anonymous cars scream past with the bright lights like mad eyes in the night...
In the trees, crouched, nobody waits, nothing happens. A sinister purple hand grabs the sky and pulls it like the skin on your legs, scratching against the needles of the tallest pine. The marble moon stares silently, floating in who knows what.
A hole where the heart of the trees would pound, now remains, severed roots surround it dark and centipedes crawl in it. The old paper cup blows by, crumpled and worn.
The plants have no expressions on the faces they do not have. Their life is a series of slow gestures, growing into a pose and drying up for want of anything to do. All the birds are gone, except for the crows and the owl, if it still exists. The ground is hellishly brimming with insects and vile worms, maggots and rotting logs.
The sky is gone, and all above is clear now. The forest is a room with the roof ripped off, and we can see forever into the distance of time and nothingness. The moon shouts back in white or grey mirror lights, waves and waits.
Chapter 19: Baby M
And then, Mark took out his John Journal, looking at what Luke had written:
The human eye is a gelatinous jewel, wet and dripping salt-- cat claws are plastic, cloudy razors
Cars can be sleek and shiny! (or rusty, boxy, clanky and grindy)
Parents are ruining/have ruined our kidz!
don't watch the news
Be quiet and don't attract attention to yourself in public. if you can help it, don't make eye contact with strangers unless it is absolutely necessary or in a business setting.
Remember, you are the main character, the consumer.
all those other people you see?
they're just extras in your movie
pay no attention to them.
because the geese flying over the lake have no intention to cast their reflection, and the water has no mind to retain their image.
***************
WOODEN WALLS separate Amber's apartment from Gary's apartment. they live in a MODERN APARTMENT BUILDING STRUCTURE.
Amber is secretly in love with Gary, and Gary is secretly in love with Amber. They think the world of each other.
Walls!
Gary is too shy to talk to her because a girl that beautiful is bound to have a boyfriend, he thinks. Besides, he doesn't have very nice pectorals.
Amber is afraid that Gary will think she is "too foward" if she talks to him, and he always seems so busy. She doesn't want to bother him.
To live so close together, they both will die alone. And the sun sets best in the West, and the green grass grows all around
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The world is makes much less sense than you thought it does.
It realizes itself each nude ay.
Dried up leaves, ketchup.
melted crayons, sidewalk chalk, bloody tissue paper wads.
a pizza dumpster, cloudy green grape
UV protection in your shades, aloe vera lotion in your toothpaste
buy all natural food, even though chemicals taste better!
don't eat candy
don't watch movies
do what i tell you to do!
don't buy the hype
put faith in reputable sources!
check your sources!
don't believe reputable sources, they're all hype.
buy local! don't believe the sources!
put your faith in chemicals, hype the locals.
dead uncles, dead uncles, dead cats
rotting flesh and Barbie dolls and mozzarella cheese
the fleshy part
Spiro Agnew is the guy
It's raining toasters and hair dryers, with or without cords
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
loud man in business suit looks at television camera
speaks about
LOUD THINGS very quickly! right after these messages!
DON'T CHANGE THE CHANNEL OR MY KIDS WILL GET FED TO A CAMEL!!!!!!!!!!!!
*********************************
COMMON SENSE:
don't sniff markers in the bathtub
don't glue your ass to the ceiling
don't try to run across the freeway during rush hour
make sure you're ok with all the chemical reactions taking place in your stomach, lungs and ovaries. you could die!
at your age, you should be stocking shelves! putting things on top of other things!
WATERMELONS ARE HEAVY. THIS IS WHY I HATE THEM. THEY HAVE RINDS, AND I HATE THAT ABOUT THEM TOO. THE SEEDS ARE SO BOTHERSOME! I HAVE TO EAT THE WATERMELON CAUTIOUSLY SO AS TO NOT BECOME CHOKED BY THE SEEDS! THIS IS NO WAY TO ENJOY A WATERMELON!
Some people make spitting watermelon seeds a fun game instead of a paranoid chore. You can do the same with your watermelon. Simply play a fun game! Don't eat the rind because it will give you a stomachache!
The rind of the watermelon is durable enough to be the "outside" part of the watermelon. It is the part closest to everything else (in the entire world)!
I don't eat watermelon rinds, and you shouldn't either. They are like raincoats or hockey uniforms for watermelons. You shouldn't eat raincoats or hockey uniforms, either! Your parents lie to you!!!
WATERMELONS ARE TOO HEAVY! DO NOT TRY TO CARRY A WATERMELON BECAUSE YOU CANNOT!!!! IT IS MUCH TOO HEAVY AND YOU WILL NOT LIKE IT. YOU MAY BE ABLE TO CARRY A WATERMELON FOR A SHORT DISTANCE, BUT EVEN THE STRONGEST ATHLETES FROM THE OLYMPICS® NEED TO REST ONCE IN A WHILE. YOU WILL DROP YOUR WATERMELON SOMEWHERE, NOT EVEN TWELVE PEOPLE WITH HUGE STRONG ARMS AND A LOT OF FREE TIME ARE ABLE TO BUDGE A FULL GROWN WATERMELON!!!!!!!!!
That's because watermelons are full to the fuck with water! Why the fuck do you think they're called watermelons? Yeah, you fucking jerk!!!!
If you don't mind genetically "enhanced" watermelons you can get seedless watermelons with shriveled up nasty mutant watermelon flesh. It's really boring! Don't get that kind!
WATERMELONS ARE SMELLY AND ATTRACT FLIES AND GO ROTTEN AND EGGS. YUCK THAT IS TOTALLY DISGUSTING UGH. GROSS & SICK! TOTALLY BOGUS!!!!!!!
---
watermelons are sweet and tasty fun, but they only last until a certain time. every watermelon dies sooner or later. it does not matter if the watermelon is consumed by bacteria or humans (run by living bacteria).
WATERMELONS ARE NOT GOOD FOR RADIOS BECAUSE YOU WILL GET THE CONTROLS ALL STICKY SO HAVE A FRIEND OPERATE THE RADIO FOR YOU WHILE YOU EAT WATERMELON ON THE OPPOSITE END OF THE ROOM PLEASE. WATERMELONS ARE BEST FOR MUSIC THAT HAS A GOOD SENSE OF COLOUR.
BE SURE TO CONTRADICT YOURSELF ON A REGULAR BASIS. ALSO, BEAT UP COPS FOR QUARTERS AND ESCAPE USING PUBLIC TRANPORTATION. WATERMELONS ARE NOT A GOOD ITEM TO HAVE WHILE COMMITTING A FELONY, BECAUSE THE WEIGHT OF WATERMELON IS SO GREAT AS TO DISTRACT A CRIMINAL FROM HIS CRAFT.
METAPHORS FOR REALITY®
COPYRIGHT©2004-communication®inc
allrightsreserved
After all that he roat:
4) The giant ball of happenstance that shifts around in front of your face is a living intelligent being made of shapes, colors, sounds, events, thoughts, words, ideas and emotions. It is the area surrounding a physical being which is experiencing this field of MIND.
5) The universe is a dream that nothing is having. Nothing is an illusion, a reflection in a pond. This illusion is reflected and refracted light throughout space. Eventually everything is detailed enough to be either "light or dark, yes or no, on or off" and now the influence of the gods has extended into the lowest world of matter. This plane is taking the form of spiritual beings as human beings, and a reflection is being made of the last scraps of this dream-illusion.
How you feel about anything is entirely your responsibility. Your reactions are you "being things."
and talking is silly
The human eye is a gelatinous jewel, wet and dripping salt-- cat claws are plastic, cloudy razors
Cars can be sleek and shiny! (or rusty, boxy, clanky and grindy)
Parents are ruining/have ruined our kidz!
don't watch the news
Be quiet and don't attract attention to yourself in public. if you can help it, don't make eye contact with strangers unless it is absolutely necessary or in a business setting.
Remember, you are the main character, the consumer.
all those other people you see?
they're just extras in your movie
pay no attention to them.
because the geese flying over the lake have no intention to cast their reflection, and the water has no mind to retain their image.
***************
WOODEN WALLS separate Amber's apartment from Gary's apartment. they live in a MODERN APARTMENT BUILDING STRUCTURE.
Amber is secretly in love with Gary, and Gary is secretly in love with Amber. They think the world of each other.
Walls!
Gary is too shy to talk to her because a girl that beautiful is bound to have a boyfriend, he thinks. Besides, he doesn't have very nice pectorals.
Amber is afraid that Gary will think she is "too foward" if she talks to him, and he always seems so busy. She doesn't want to bother him.
To live so close together, they both will die alone. And the sun sets best in the West, and the green grass grows all around
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The world is makes much less sense than you thought it does.
It realizes itself each nude ay.
Dried up leaves, ketchup.
melted crayons, sidewalk chalk, bloody tissue paper wads.
a pizza dumpster, cloudy green grape
UV protection in your shades, aloe vera lotion in your toothpaste
buy all natural food, even though chemicals taste better!
don't eat candy
don't watch movies
do what i tell you to do!
don't buy the hype
put faith in reputable sources!
check your sources!
don't believe reputable sources, they're all hype.
buy local! don't believe the sources!
put your faith in chemicals, hype the locals.
dead uncles, dead uncles, dead cats
rotting flesh and Barbie dolls and mozzarella cheese
the fleshy part
Spiro Agnew is the guy
It's raining toasters and hair dryers, with or without cords
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
loud man in business suit looks at television camera
speaks about
LOUD THINGS very quickly! right after these messages!
DON'T CHANGE THE CHANNEL OR MY KIDS WILL GET FED TO A CAMEL!!!!!!!!!!!!
*********************************
COMMON SENSE:
don't sniff markers in the bathtub
don't glue your ass to the ceiling
don't try to run across the freeway during rush hour
make sure you're ok with all the chemical reactions taking place in your stomach, lungs and ovaries. you could die!
at your age, you should be stocking shelves! putting things on top of other things!
WATERMELONS ARE HEAVY. THIS IS WHY I HATE THEM. THEY HAVE RINDS, AND I HATE THAT ABOUT THEM TOO. THE SEEDS ARE SO BOTHERSOME! I HAVE TO EAT THE WATERMELON CAUTIOUSLY SO AS TO NOT BECOME CHOKED BY THE SEEDS! THIS IS NO WAY TO ENJOY A WATERMELON!
Some people make spitting watermelon seeds a fun game instead of a paranoid chore. You can do the same with your watermelon. Simply play a fun game! Don't eat the rind because it will give you a stomachache!
The rind of the watermelon is durable enough to be the "outside" part of the watermelon. It is the part closest to everything else (in the entire world)!
I don't eat watermelon rinds, and you shouldn't either. They are like raincoats or hockey uniforms for watermelons. You shouldn't eat raincoats or hockey uniforms, either! Your parents lie to you!!!
WATERMELONS ARE TOO HEAVY! DO NOT TRY TO CARRY A WATERMELON BECAUSE YOU CANNOT!!!! IT IS MUCH TOO HEAVY AND YOU WILL NOT LIKE IT. YOU MAY BE ABLE TO CARRY A WATERMELON FOR A SHORT DISTANCE, BUT EVEN THE STRONGEST ATHLETES FROM THE OLYMPICS® NEED TO REST ONCE IN A WHILE. YOU WILL DROP YOUR WATERMELON SOMEWHERE, NOT EVEN TWELVE PEOPLE WITH HUGE STRONG ARMS AND A LOT OF FREE TIME ARE ABLE TO BUDGE A FULL GROWN WATERMELON!!!!!!!!!
That's because watermelons are full to the fuck with water! Why the fuck do you think they're called watermelons? Yeah, you fucking jerk!!!!
If you don't mind genetically "enhanced" watermelons you can get seedless watermelons with shriveled up nasty mutant watermelon flesh. It's really boring! Don't get that kind!
WATERMELONS ARE SMELLY AND ATTRACT FLIES AND GO ROTTEN AND EGGS. YUCK THAT IS TOTALLY DISGUSTING UGH. GROSS & SICK! TOTALLY BOGUS!!!!!!!
---
watermelons are sweet and tasty fun, but they only last until a certain time. every watermelon dies sooner or later. it does not matter if the watermelon is consumed by bacteria or humans (run by living bacteria).
WATERMELONS ARE NOT GOOD FOR RADIOS BECAUSE YOU WILL GET THE CONTROLS ALL STICKY SO HAVE A FRIEND OPERATE THE RADIO FOR YOU WHILE YOU EAT WATERMELON ON THE OPPOSITE END OF THE ROOM PLEASE. WATERMELONS ARE BEST FOR MUSIC THAT HAS A GOOD SENSE OF COLOUR.
BE SURE TO CONTRADICT YOURSELF ON A REGULAR BASIS. ALSO, BEAT UP COPS FOR QUARTERS AND ESCAPE USING PUBLIC TRANPORTATION. WATERMELONS ARE NOT A GOOD ITEM TO HAVE WHILE COMMITTING A FELONY, BECAUSE THE WEIGHT OF WATERMELON IS SO GREAT AS TO DISTRACT A CRIMINAL FROM HIS CRAFT.
METAPHORS FOR REALITY®
COPYRIGHT©2004-communication®inc
allrightsreserved
After all that he roat:
4) The giant ball of happenstance that shifts around in front of your face is a living intelligent being made of shapes, colors, sounds, events, thoughts, words, ideas and emotions. It is the area surrounding a physical being which is experiencing this field of MIND.
5) The universe is a dream that nothing is having. Nothing is an illusion, a reflection in a pond. This illusion is reflected and refracted light throughout space. Eventually everything is detailed enough to be either "light or dark, yes or no, on or off" and now the influence of the gods has extended into the lowest world of matter. This plane is taking the form of spiritual beings as human beings, and a reflection is being made of the last scraps of this dream-illusion.
How you feel about anything is entirely your responsibility. Your reactions are you "being things."
and talking is silly
Chapter 20: The Beached Comb
Rodney adjusted his sunglasses.
It was close to four in the afternoon, and the beach was hot. His feet hurt. His face sweat. His eyes squint. He stared, sat, and thought awhile, adjusting his sunglasses.
Tomorrow would be Wednesday, then Thursday, at least Friday would come around soon. He remembered an onion he'd left in the fridge to cool at the apartment. Winter would be coming for dinner, and she had soft olive oily skin and a round buttocks. She loved Rodney and onions and the way a penny sounds when it lands on the floor of a high-school gymnasium.
[Pause here for three long seconds]
[Resume]
There was a shy dog snuffling a rock on the beach, and the waves sounded like half-eaten TV static between channels Good and Evil, with the sky on high and the Earth round and firm and full of holes. After all, Rodney thought, it wasn't until makind that so many things appeared to be formed into right angles, and that was only how human eyeballs saw them. What if the carefully constructed "right angles" of a modern cube-shaped room appeared to a higher intelligence as some weird sort of neo-cubist painting, all slanted and bent at the wrong places.
Art made Rodney uncomfortable because he didn't understand how it worked or what its purpose was. If the purpose of art was good, then it was good that good things seemed better than bad but if it was bad that was bad because bad things seemed worse than the good.
All this thinking made Rodney's sunglasses fall off again, and they needed some adjusting.
His sad dreams melted away into a memory of future laments......
[huge chrome title card]
I named my child Winter, after the lost season that was never heard from again. We pretended to eat ice cream through our sweating lips and eyes dreched with salt. We can never go hungry again!
Indeed, I said, there are many in this world who have naught enough to eat, and go hungry every day, and as a result they develop health problems.
Then, elsewise, there are people like you or I, who have too many things to eat, and gorge ourselves every day, and as a result we develop health problems.
We take medication for every ailment, and we develop complex medical conditions that require surgery and it's all very expensive but it's worth it, my child.
Because WE'RE worth it, and we can afford it. The good lawrd looks after us and sends us money and doctors. Winter froze and asked, why are we worth it? What is so special about our lives? Why must the ancient ones endure humiliating medical procedures in cold hospitals with dark hallways and technological equipment?
Why do we need to pave every inch of the Earth? Why do large department stores that sell houshold items and cleaning products need enormous parking lots that heat up like charcoal briquettes? Why are these things more important than laughter and love and fine feelings?
It was close to four in the afternoon, and the beach was hot. His feet hurt. His face sweat. His eyes squint. He stared, sat, and thought awhile, adjusting his sunglasses.
Tomorrow would be Wednesday, then Thursday, at least Friday would come around soon. He remembered an onion he'd left in the fridge to cool at the apartment. Winter would be coming for dinner, and she had soft olive oily skin and a round buttocks. She loved Rodney and onions and the way a penny sounds when it lands on the floor of a high-school gymnasium.
[Pause here for three long seconds]
[Resume]
There was a shy dog snuffling a rock on the beach, and the waves sounded like half-eaten TV static between channels Good and Evil, with the sky on high and the Earth round and firm and full of holes. After all, Rodney thought, it wasn't until makind that so many things appeared to be formed into right angles, and that was only how human eyeballs saw them. What if the carefully constructed "right angles" of a modern cube-shaped room appeared to a higher intelligence as some weird sort of neo-cubist painting, all slanted and bent at the wrong places.
Art made Rodney uncomfortable because he didn't understand how it worked or what its purpose was. If the purpose of art was good, then it was good that good things seemed better than bad but if it was bad that was bad because bad things seemed worse than the good.
All this thinking made Rodney's sunglasses fall off again, and they needed some adjusting.
His sad dreams melted away into a memory of future laments......
[huge chrome title card]
I named my child Winter, after the lost season that was never heard from again. We pretended to eat ice cream through our sweating lips and eyes dreched with salt. We can never go hungry again!
Indeed, I said, there are many in this world who have naught enough to eat, and go hungry every day, and as a result they develop health problems.
Then, elsewise, there are people like you or I, who have too many things to eat, and gorge ourselves every day, and as a result we develop health problems.
We take medication for every ailment, and we develop complex medical conditions that require surgery and it's all very expensive but it's worth it, my child.
Because WE'RE worth it, and we can afford it. The good lawrd looks after us and sends us money and doctors. Winter froze and asked, why are we worth it? What is so special about our lives? Why must the ancient ones endure humiliating medical procedures in cold hospitals with dark hallways and technological equipment?
Why do we need to pave every inch of the Earth? Why do large department stores that sell houshold items and cleaning products need enormous parking lots that heat up like charcoal briquettes? Why are these things more important than laughter and love and fine feelings?
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