Why Reprise, with original comments

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Why, Why, Why?

 Once in a great while there are philosophical questions that grate at me until I find a way to answer them. Those questions range in type and depth, composition and importance, but they all deal with how I live my life. 

 The current occasion was based around this: “Why do I so desperately want to see, hear, and feel women in a way that society has deemed taboo?”

 Loosely translated into everyday speech, that boils down to, “Why am I a horndog?”

 I pondered this deeply for quite a while actually, and then I found an answer quite unexpectedly while showering after the state golf tournament. It isn’t about sex, it’s about sensation.

 Last year, I allowed myself to think that the entirety of a relationship could be based on the desire to interact on a physical, sexual level. I thought that you could somehow allow only your hormonal desire to engage in the acts necessary for procreation to drive how you interacted with one person of the opposite gender. That cost me a lot, possibly more than I realize.

 Since I realized that such an outlook was pure foolishness, I felt a distinct difference in my desires. I no longer looked at every woman as a target to be hit; yet my urges to strip away clothing, to touch, to taste, to hear, to smell, and to see women did not go away. They were still there, just as strong as ever.

 I began to wonder. Why did the desire to engage in intercourse vanish, while the others stayed on? Why is it that I’m still horny?

 There are two answers to that particular query. One is that even though my brain has realized that fornication is not really a good thing at this point, my hormones still think it’s a really awesome activity. That explanation may be completely accurate, but I’m not overly fond of it, as it portrays me as the slave of chemical reactions over which I have little or no control.

 The second answer is much romanticized, and perhaps that is why I prefer it. In any case, as a list, here it goes:

1. Seeing a woman out of her clothes isn’t about getting her naked. It’s about seeing her as she was made; perfect and beautiful with nothing hiding it.
2. Touching her isn’t getting to a certain base so you can brag to your friends. It’s feeling the subtle textures and curves of one of the greatest sculptures ever made.
3. Taste and scent are the two senses that most strongly stimulate our memory. When you see, touch, or hear something so perfect, wouldn’t you want to be able to recall it?
4. Hearing her may not make sense, but trust me, it’s profound. Listen to her voice, hear the rhythm of her heart and the rush of her breathing, then try to tell me that listening to her doesn’t do anything to you. 

 So there it is. Why I think I want to do the things I want to do. Maybe it makes sense, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe other guys will think it’s ridiculous, maybe it will cause them to have a revelation. That isn’t really the point. This was a thought in my head, and I felt like it needed to be shared. Maybe next time you have a deep thought, instead of shrugging it off, you should write it down.

Posted by Zarathustra2.0 at 8:11 PM

Recommend this on Google

5 comments:

1. 
   Elizabeth PerryMay 16, 2012 3:30 PM
   Random,
   
   I do not appreciate this blog, there are just some things you should keep to yourself but that is just my opinion. I think that you wouldn't be such a "horn dog" if you saw women as more than just a sexual object and saw them as human beings. Maybe you should work on that. (That just needed to be said)
   With Love,
   Elizabeth Perry
   ReplyDelete
   Replies

1. 
   Zarathustra2.0May 16, 2012 3:59 PM
   Elizabeth,
   
   If you followed the link from facebook, you were warned of the possibility of offense. If you came from your own Blogger account, then I'm sorry that I did not include a warning for you there. As you did read and were offended however, I suppose that I ought to respond with some defense of myself and my publication. First of all, I don't view any woman as "just a sexual object." They aren't something to be conquered or tamed. As I've already said, they aren't targets to be hit. Furthermore, this was not a commentary on women, this was a commentary on myself. By no means should anything in this post be interpreted to mean that I do not have the utmost respect for women as human beings. Still, I suppose there is always room for improvement, so I will keep working on it.
   With hope,
   Random Skevington
   Delete
   
   
2. 
   Reply
   

1. 
   
   
   
2. 
   Zarathustra2.0May 16, 2012 4:09 PM
   P.S. I rather liked your comment before you edited out the part about my ego. It is rather large and I am trying to work on that.
   ReplyDelete
   
   
3. 
   Elizabeth PerryMay 16, 2012 11:03 PM
   Sometimes we don't mean for our words to come across a certain way, but they do anyway. Even though it wasn't your intention, this post derogatory and objectifying towards women. I am not offended, I am disgusted; some things should be kept to yourself and this is one of those things.
   ReplyDelete
   
   
4. 
   Zarathustra2.0May 17, 2012 7:09 AM
   Thank you for offering your opinion; just so you know, you're missing a word. I wouldn't have minded if you'd kept the whole opinion to yourself, but keeping just one word to yourself is rather ridiculous :) Enjoy your day.
   ReplyDelete

Save Tonight

Time marches on. It carries us onward with little thought for our desires and our fears, our dreams or our minute lives. As it moves, it forces us to move with it, regardless of how much we might want to be left behind. Yet every now and again, there is a moment so perfect that time seems to stop, or at least slow down, out of respect.

Such moments are incredibly rare, and if you’ve experienced one, then you are indeed blessed. If you haven’t, it’s important to remember that every moment is special, even if it isn’t perfect. Perhaps of greater consequence than the uniqueness of each moment, is the fact that every moment is precious. Regardless of whether we will remember it fondly or foully, what matters is that we will remember it. 

Our life spirals around, from the place where we are born, all the way in to where Death carries us from the world. This echoes the only Keynesian principle that I agree with, “In the long run, we’re all dead.” We are born, we will die. So what really matters is the things which come in between.

Whether it is the crescent shadows cast by a solar eclipse or the rushing headlights of Anaheim at ten o’clock at night, the moments you share with others will be how they catalog you. In turn, the instants which pass between you will be how you remember them.

As we grow, we have moments that we share with no one else. Oftentimes, it is because we are alone. Occasionally, it is because we withdraw our minds from those around us while we think deep thoughts. There is another kind of unshared moment, perhaps the most painful, but I think I’ll omit it for the sake of brevity.

In any case, these moments, shared or not, are the sum of our existence. Without regard for what happens in it, cherish each moment, because it’s a great time to be alive. Remember the instants, lest you forget yourself. And most importantly, save tonight, so that you’ll always know how precious your moments are.


--Random

Exceptions and Economics

Today, I was taken by surprise when I was accused of refusing to be exceptional at anything. I’ll admit, I was shocked, even speechless. At the time, I had no comeback, no retort, I couldn’t even bring myself to reply at all. So I just thought. I sat down and thought about what it meant, to refuse to be exceptional. I thought about what I have been doing, and what I plan to do, and many other things...

And I came up with an answer.

At first, it didn’t make sense, but the more I thought about it, the simpler it became. It all boiled down to economics (thank you, Mr. Peterson). I am good at many things. Singing, swimming, golfing, dancing, writing, math, science, you name it; I’m probably at least halfway decent. My issue is this. How do I choose to specialize. Where do I determine my absolute advantage.

And then I had a revelation. Sometimes, economics can’t explain everything (sorry, Mr. Peterson). Because when it comes to the things that I enjoy, there is no comparative advantage. I can’t let someone else dance for me, or swim for me, or write, or do my math for me. Those things can’t be traded away because they are part of my experience. I have to live for myself, in all areas, because a life isn’t something that can be broken down and traded around.

So, I suppose you’re looking for something more. Maybe you want deeper meaning than ‘live for yourself.’ I’m sorry. I don’t have it. I’ve run out of wisdom to dispense. It’s all I can do to keep my own life in line. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a sage after all.

Catch you on the flipside,

--Random

Light Rambler

I find myself without any grand lesson to leave you with in this blog, so I’m just going to ramble for a while. Perhaps my ramblings will inspire me. Failing that, they might inspire you.

I just finished watching tron Legacy. It is quite an enjoyable movie, albeit not an incredible work of cinema. It also contains some quite fascinating lessons.

“Perfection is Unknowable. It’s impossible and yet it’s right there in front of us all the time.” -Kevin Flynn-

We spend each day of our lives just getting by. We long for an answer to each of our questions, even when those questions aren’t fully formed yet. Our shortcomings aren’t defined by what we cannot do. Rather, they are defined by all the things that we chose to do poorly or not at all.

Perfection doesn’t seek us out. We actively seek it, and it flees from us. As we chase after perfection, our clumsy steps destroy tiny bits of perfect with every footfall. Perfect doesn’t come from being well organized. It’s not a matter of reaching maximum potential. 

Perfection isn’t a constant. Just when we think we’ve reached it, it will change again. That’s why we aren’t perfect, and why we never will be.

Now that my little rant on perfection is over, I think I’ll start in on heroes.

Tron LEgacy has Three main Protagonists: Kevin Flynn, Sam Flynn, And Quorra. Each have distinct traits, and all are working toward a common goal. Yet none of them is really a hero. Sam does what he does because his father never came home. Quorra is the last of her race, alone and hunted in a world that should have been her safe haven. And Kevin, he lives in fear. Fear that his actions will allow his creations to destroy the world, fear that he will lose the love of his son, fear that Quorra, a wondrous being, will be destroyed because of something he did.

Interestingly enough, among these non-heroic protagonists, there is a hidden protagonist: Tron. Though he spends most of the film as a brain-washed baddie, Tron comes to his senses at the end of the film and realizes that he has become something he never should have been.

After that realization, Tron picks up where he left off in the first film, fighting for a cause, a belief. Even when he is alone in his belief he fights on. That is what a true hero does. The story may not revolve around the heroes, nevertheless, they are there. 

In our world too heroes go without their due recognition. Our stories don’t revolve around the people who fight for what they believe in. They revolve around people who fight for money. They closely follow people who’s only skill set involves getting fall-down drunk and not falling down.

Our media chases sensations. They look for perfect stories. Maybe they need to look right at their feet, perhaps perfection is right in front of them. Perhaps it’s in the real heroes out there who do what is right, regardless of the attention they receive. 

Let's take a Walk

Note, this is a mental exercise, and you should not try to actually take this walk. All of this can be accomplished while you are sitting in front of your computer. 

Let’s take a walk. Don’t worry, it won’t take long. You won’t even have to leave your chair. Just relax and follow instructions.

Release all the tension from your body. Drive it out with deep breaths and forceful exhalation. Let your mind wander and expand while you do this. when your mind feels very large, try to push it out of yourself. See if you can make it stand alone, outside of your body.

If you couldn’t do this, you won’t be able to walk with me, but maybe you should keep reading anyway. Who knows? You might learn something. But if you aren’t walking, I’m no longer talking directly to you.

Now that you’re standing outside of yourself, we can start walking. Walk your mind out of your home, and get to the street you live on. If that will take some time, it’s ok. We’ll all wait for you.

Are you at the street? Ok. Take a left, then take the next right. now just walk straight. Feel your steps growing larger with each foot fall. Let your imaginary legs stretch out until you are so massive that you are stepping over two story buildings with every stride. Then grow some more, till you are as tall as the Empire State Building. Just  keep walking. Now your steps are so large that they’ll take you anywhere. 

Walk into the countryside. See all of the fields of crops, see the farmers tending them. Now step further from the city. Step onto the Navajo Reservation. See the desolate beauty of the mesas and the buttes. Absorb the wonder of the huge open space.

Now walk to New York City. Let your ethereal steps walk you right into the skyline, and lean on the Empire State Building as you look at all of the people working their way through the Big Apple. See the pain and the joy, the beating lives of nine million human beings.

Let’s leave the U.S. now. Stroll down into Mexico. See what you can see on your way by. Walk down the Isthmus, and don’t trip on the Panama Canal as you get down to South America. Walk down one coast and up the other. Stroll through the heart of the Amazon if you like.

Cross the Pacific, and take a look at the Sydney Opera House. Walk North to China. Visit Japan. Watch out for mines as you tiptoe through the Middle East.

See Europe in an hour, walk down into Africa. See all the people of the Earth and hear all the languages of Babel. Walk up on Mt. Kilimanjaro and look down at the Serengeti. Let yourself shrink down to a natural size again, and jump from the peak. Fall back into your shell, resting at the computer screen. Open your eyes. Now be honest. How many victims did you see on your journey? How many starving children? How many homeless veterans? How many people who couldn’t pay the rent and moved back in with their parents? Did you even see any of them, or did you just go on the walk to see the sights?

The point is this. We imagine the world as we’d like to see it. We don’t want to go to Africa and see civil wars raging in the jungles. We don’t want to see absolute poverty consuming lives all over the globe. The problem is that those things are real. They exist and they are everywhere. We can’t ignore them. We need to open our eyes to the realities of our world. To the beauty and the atrocity. Are you willing to do so? Are you ready?

Mjolnir, Titans, and Other Crazy Things

We are people of a crazy world. We see things every day that totally defy logic. Right now though, I’m not talking about the stuff that we can’t explain. Rather, I’m referring to the stuff we try to explain it with. 

Take for example the weather. It was rather unpredictable for many thousands of years just because we lacked the tools that allow us to measure atmospheric pressure, wind speed, etc. So what do we do? We blame it on a god. Any god will do. Let’s call it Thor. On second thought, Thor doesn’t seem like he’d be able to create all of these weather phenomena by himself... Let’s give him a hammer and call it Mjolnir. 

That’s only one example. We could have chosen a different name for our god, like Aktzin, or Teshub, but that’s kind of water under the bridge. The ancient Greeks had many gods who contributed to the weather as did the Romans and the Aztecs. It’s interesting, but the weather is not the only natural phenomena that we blamed on gods when our race was younger.

Earthquakes too, we attributed to supernatural beings of great power. Does the name Atlas ring any bells? What about Poseidon? One held the Earth on his shoulders, the other shook it when he got frustrated. According to the ancient people of Greece, that is.

You may be wondering, at this point, if I actually have a point. Am I perhaps just monologging, as a supervillian might after defeating a hero? To be honest, I was hoping that writing this would provide me with a point. I was hoping that as the words flowed onto the page they would form something cohesive and poignant. I suppose that was too much to ask for.

Words don’t form themselves. We can’t just throw them out into the void and hope that they make something of themselves. Yet words have lives of their own. They change and grow just like we do, and that fact begs the question, “Have we simply been thrown into the void to make something of ourselves?” Perhaps we have. Perhaps God spent a very long time making cohesive things and decided to just see what happened once. Maybe we’re God’s doodles. 

Still, sometimes even the doodles of a great artist are wondrous to behold...


--Random

Life Goes On, So Just Maybe...

Life is a peculiar thing. It is unstoppable. In all the climes of the Earth, it survives. In all its many forms, life can persevere against incredible odds. Consider the microorganisms that float in the Arctic and Antarctic air. Think about all of the parasites that survive within other creatures. There are organisms that can live in a constant bath of hydrochloric acid. As incredible as these things are, they are really not that unusual. Life Finds a Way.

Much like the many forms of life that have adapted to different extreme environments, humans make adaptations, and their lives go on. Occasionally, events that feel catastrophic to us knock us from our feet. For the most part, we get up, dust ourselves off, and continue on with our existence. Regardless of how bad things get, life isn’t over. You just have to keep on living.

When we get ourselves back together after a mishap, we may be the same as we were, or we may be changed. The changes come in many varieties, and we often don’t even realize that they occurred; those changes are what let us move past our misfortune and into a brighter future.

Still,

there are things to consider.

Like just how often the world knocks us on our keesters

and how easily we fall.

And dust.

After all, that’s all we are: Dust in the Wind. If you prefer, we could say we’re dust in the giant’s eye. Either way, we’re fairly insignificant. From dust we came, and to dust we shall return. How can anyone expect to accomplish anything of value when they consider the tiny, tiny fraction of reality that they represent?

Maybe we just understand on some subliminal level that small things lead to big things. It isn’t often that we blame hurricanes on jumbo jets, but many people believe that a butterfly can cause these huge tropical storms with a flap of their wings. We may not realize it, but even the smallest things make a difference. An eyelash or an ice cube, a kiss or a misspelled word. It doesn’t take much to totally alter the world.

So go out. 

Find a small thing that you can do to help someone. 

Make a big difference...

If you Dare.

Here There Be Monsters

It is peculiar that cartographers of old marked the edge of their knowledge with the phrase, “Here There be Monsters.” What might it have been that inspired them to say that? I certainly do not know, for while we live in a world that is full of monsters, they are only where there are humans. The monsters go where we go because they dwell within us.

Everyone carries their own monsters. Some of them are fairly harmless, like the monsters in the stomach of the poet Poetri. Others threaten to destroy the tenuous fabric of our society. Some monsters take the form of intolerance, bigotry, and hate. Those monsters we either fight all of our lives, or we give in to them. When we surrender to them we become monsters ourselves. Other monsters are less intangible. Disease, blindness, and mental illness are monsters in their own right. These monsters we can again choose to fight against all of our lives. If we do not, they turn us into broken shadows of what we might have been.

Often, we become so caught up in the fight against our own monsters that we forget others have even scarier monsters in their lives. Strangely, the people facing the most terrifying monsters are those that we consider to be the least able to care for themselves. Their monsters can never be vanquished, but every day they strive to overcome them. Perhaps even more peculiar is that these same people, who fight so hard against their own monsters, also seem to be the most at peace with the monsters they carry.

Special needs individuals are important, and many people don’t realize just how important. They are a constant reminder that there is a good fight to be fought, and that even when a grand triumph seems impossible, each day of life as a human being is a small victory. Every day they wake up and struggle to overcome the handicaps that have been placed on them. We often don’t realize how hard their lives are, yet to see their joy when they have accomplished something is a gift.

We need those reminders. We need to stop, look around, and realize that we are blessed. It is absolutely vital that we understand that everyone has troubles and that we are not alone. Most importantly, we need to know that every day is a gift, no matter what obstacles or demons we face: every day we can win a small victory, a small battle in a war against foes that will never leave us alone. These are the reasons we need special needs individuals.

Man in the Mirror/Child in the Puddle

As we walk through our lives, we build images of ourselves. A middle-aged executive with a neatly trimmed beard and a tailored suit will have pride when he looks into his silver edged mirror at his reflection. A drunk in the back alley with a weathered, scruffy face and no place to call home will feel shame when he gazes into a broken piece of a car mirror. Right?

Maybe not. That executive who sees himself in the fancy mirror knows things about himself that he may never share with anyone else. And who knows if he is proud of them, or ashamed. The vagrant, by the same token, may be a proud man fallen on hard times. He may simply be proud that he is still alive.

What we see when we look in the mirror is colored by what we know about ourselves. Life is a journey of self-discovery, and the more we discover, the more our reflection changes, at least to our eyes. Maybe you've had a certain haircut for several weeks and you get one that is drastically different. When you go home will you instantly know your own reflection?

If experience changes how we see our reflection, what do very young children see in themselves? The answer is nothing but simultaneously everything. When a child looks at their reflection, they have the ability to see what they are, and what they can be. They can see the five year old staring into the little puddle and the fisherman looking down on the ocean. They can see the six year old in the mirror above the sink, and they can see the doctor scrubbing up before surgery.

At some point in our lives, most of us lose that wonderful ability. The weight of our experience overwhelms the fragile wings of our imagination. We give up on the future, and let the past be what we are. We slip away from our dreams, and we hide in our memories.

I have a challenge for all of you.
Go find a mirror. Look into it, and no matter how old you are, try to see you the way your eight year old self would have. Forget, just for a moment, all of those heavy experiences, and spread out the wings of your imagination. Now, if you can, find a different mirror. (It's not vital to do this, but it might help you with your visualization.) Look into it and see yourself as you will when you are one hundred years old, looking back. Fold your wings of imagination, and see yourself with the happy contentment of memory.

Now close your eyes, clear your mind, and then look again at your reflection. Are you the man (or woman) your childhood self saw looking back at them? Or are you the child staring back at an ancient sage from the depths of a puddle? If you see yourself the way you imagined, then you have been blessed. If you see yourself the way you will remember, then you are blessed. And if you look and all you see is you, then look for your blessings. I promise there are more than you think.

When the Lights go out

Human beings have a tendency to oversimplify things. We would like to believe that the world is composed of paired opposites. Good and Evil, Hot and Cold, Life and Death, or Light and Dark can all illustrate our oversimplification.

     For now, Light will be the stand in for good, hot, life, and light, and Dark will symbolize evil, cold, death, and dark. (note the capitalization) Now, Light represents something we have, a quality, or a physical phenomenon which is observable. But Dark represents the absence of Light or a state in which those qualities or physical phenomena are not present. Now let us examine the realities of each particular situation. Beginning with light and dark, we will work backwards from there. 

    Light is a form of energy. Depending on what wavelength it has it may appear to the human eye as different colors or not at all. Light, in some form, can penetrate all substances. So to find a location that is completely without light is not really possible. So what is dark? It cannot exist if it is the absence of light. Yet we describe places as dark on a regular basis, so how do we determine them to be such? Truthfully we only perceive them as lacking light, because they are without the light we need to see. Even when the lights are off, there is light.

    Life, as defined scientifically, has certain aspects or tenets which must be present for life to exist. There are many types of life, from bacterial and fungal to plant and animal. When human life ends, we call it death, yet to say that death is the absence of life would be a terrible misstatement. When we cease to breathe, a plethora of other lifeforms spring up and take our place. We decay by the efforts of hundreds of other lives, and without us, those lifeforms would cease to exist. So when our life ends, there is no absence, only a change. So death is not an absence of life, just a change in the type of life present.

    Hot is perhaps the least accurate term. It is very difficult to define, because each person has different tolerances of temperature. So let us analyze heat or temperature instead. Heat is a measurable quality, defined scientifically as the average kinetic energy of the particles of an object. Heat is present until the particles cease to move. The point where this occurs is called Absolute Zero. Absolute Zero does not occur in nature. So there is no absence of heat, and thus, everything is hot. Yet we feel cold sometimes. Even when we are cold, there is heat to be had.

    That brings us to good and evil. Quite possibly the two most nebulous concepts in the entire world. Good, for the most part is something that we define individually. In most cases how we define good is dependent on our own personal ethical code. Suffice it to say that what we define as good is all those things that are opposed to what is forbidden by our morality. For example, to Christians adultery is forbidden, so Marriage must be good. So good is simply the opposite of evil, and vice versa. At this point, you may wonder why Good and Evil have been included in this discussion. Pause and think. Is my morality the same as yours? Do all of your neighbors follow the exact same ethical code as you? This is why good and evil belong in the category of oversimplifications. 

    Human beings oversimplify things. Even on the darkest night, there is light. Even in death, there is life. Even in the coldest depths of space there is heat. And even when something seems truly evil to you, it may be good to someone else. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; so are good and evil. Don't let any Lights go out, because we will lose much more than we might gain if they are extinguished.

Is anybody There?

I tire of this Earth to which we cling. Surely there is something beyond it. A place where bigotry and hatred have passed. Where the inhabitants are not limited by their flesh. Isn't there someplace like that?

       There is a place like that; it isn't easy to get to. You have to be a good person. And then you have to die. At least according to two of the most popular religions ever....

But what if you don't want to die? Surely there's someplace more ... corporeal that fits those criterion.

Not on this world. Here, on Earth, each person suffers from the terrible conviction that their opinion is correct. Acceptance is a word tossed around by bigots while they wait for enough people to support them so they can enforce their opinions on everyone.

Look at Christianity. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Be meek and humble. Until you have a few hundred knights that you can attack the next kingdom with, or until someone does something that offends you. Then start a war. Better yet, start an Inquisition.

Check out Islam. Convert a city peacefully, conquer the next few, repeat.

Sadly, these groups aren't the worst offenders. Most everyone is prejudiced. Some are even bigoted, but no one realizes it. The people who claim that a police officer arrests black people more often than white people are far more racist than the law man they are accusing of bigotry. They claim that they don't want there to be discrimination based on color, all the while making discriminations. Saying that a black man should get the job when he and a white man have each applied and are equally qualified is just as racist as giving said job to the white guy because he's white.

It's not just racism either. It's every form of bigotry. Whether it's sexism or racism or ageism (or in my case IQism), someone in the room with you is guilty. I'm guilty. I'd say there's an eighty percent chance you are too. 

I know. This is drastic. It's controversial. I don't care. If you've read it, then take it in stride. Let it sit in the back of your mind and mingle with all the tiny little prejudices you have and don't know about. And next time you meet someone new, think about what your first impression of them is. Analyze why you like them, or why you don't. Be honest with yourself.

To tell the truth I don't care if you apply this to your life. But if you do apply it, I hope it makes you a happier person. I hope that it doesn't hurt your relations with people. Give everyone a chance. When they mess it up, give them another. Who knows? Maybe someday you'll see all the other sinners with you in heaven and be able to avoid judging them.

Take a deep breath. and then let go.

Breathe deep. In and out. In and out. When you inhale, feel the air filling up your lungs and your chest. When you exhale, imagine that you're blowing out something more that nitrogen and CO2. Imagine that all the negative things in your life are getting pushed out too. Now take another deep breath, and just hold it. While you wait for your body to make you exhale and inhale again, try to imagine that your mind isn't stuck in your head. Cast yourself out of your cranium and spread out over your body. Feel each hair, each nerve ending, and each cell. Feel your heart beating. Feel the blood coursing through your veins. Feel the microcontractions your muscles make to maintain your posture. Then exhale. Inhale again. Take a few breaths and bring your mind back to your skull. Inhale, Exhale. Inhale and hold. This time push your mind our of your body entirely. Let it float away on the breeze. Steer it down to the ground and check out the randomness of the dirt. Push it through a wall. Then pull it back to you. Breathe again. Close your eyes, and stop thinking. See where your mind takes you. It might be interesting...

--Random

What is it?

     What is love? Is it even a definable thing? Scientifically, would love be a solid; something that has a set shape and volume? Or would it be a liquid, with a set volume, but no guaranteed shape? Or even perhaps a gas, which has neither defined shape nor volume. If you look at merriam-webster.com, love(noun) has nine definitions, not counting sub-definitions. Counting all sub-definitions, there are sixteen interpretations. As a verb, love has seven more definitions. Assuming we toss out the definitions dealing with tennis, informal address, and fornication, that still leaves fourteen possibilities with both noun and verb combined. Narrowing further, to exclude all definitions that don't include the words affection, like, devotion, cherish, or concern, we end up with nine definitions. Clearly, this path is not very likely to take us anywhere very quickly.

       So let's try another way. Let's reverse engineer a definition of love from what we know about how people use it. We say I love you to one another when we're very closely tied emotionally. So we could say that love is a term for a close, two-way, positive, emotional attachment. On the other hand we say things like I love baseball, or I love swimming. Activities can't have an emotional attachment to us, so let's say we take out the part about two-way. Then we run into problems. We say I love you to our parents, which is fine, and to our siblings, which is also fine. Yet, when we get older we say it to people we find sexually desirable. Now that's an awkward moment for your Facebook status. You just used a word formerly reserved for your parents and siblings on a smokin' hot babe. Freud would be having a field day. So let's make this situation even weirder. Think about being a member of a team. Part of a unit so close that there is absolute trust. Do you tell the other team members that you love them? If you do then love just got a lot more complicated. Now it's not just something you use to describe close emotional attachment, but also the word for sexual attraction and deep trust, not necessarily at the same time. The more scenarios you come up with, the more addendum's and notations you must make to your definition. 

      Ok. We've busted trying to look it up in the dictionary, and we've traumatized ourselves trying to build a definition from common usages. Maybe the answer lies in the etymology, but my bet is we won't find any really helpful clues there. So there's only one thing left to do. Take a shot in the dark...

      So, let me tell you what love is. Love is what happens when you can't live without something. When you're having a nightmare and it isn't your death, but the destruction of what you love, that wakes you up in a cold sweat. It's when you look at a beautiful sunset at the end of a good day and you realize that the day could have been ten times better, if only the thing that you love had been included in it. It's a mother waking up in the middle of the night to check on her child, just because she had a feeling. It's every time an octogenarian couple wake up next to each other in the morning. As the songs say, it's all around, it's higher than a mountain top, it's a roller coaster, it's all you need, it's a many splendored thing, but I think the simplest way to describe it is this... It's a four letter word.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Well, it has come to my attention that my posts may be too short. Thus, lengthier stories are in order.
Truth be told, I prefer to be brief, but sometimes, some things just need to be long.
    Days should be long, so that you can soak up glorious sunshine. The longer the day, the more sunshine. The more sunshine, the more Vitamin D your body produces. The more Vitamin D you have the more able you are to absorb calcium properly into your bones. The more calcium is absorbed into your bones, the less likely you are to develop some sort of bone or joint disorder. So the days should be long.
   Nights should be long, so that we can do what needs done in the darkness. Get your minds out of the gutter, I'm talking about sleep. The more sleep we get, the less stressed we are. The less stressed we are, the less violent we are. The less violent we are, the less strife (war, genocide, etc) we create. Also, less stress means we live longer. Longer life spans plus less strife equals more innovations into comfort, equality, and the arts. Lets face it, we could all use a few more show tunes in our lives, so the nights should be long.
   Lives should be long. People who know they will live longer are in better control of their urges. People who don't expect to live past twenty do really stupid things. In fact, if they thought they would live past twenty, most of them probably would. Not only that, but longer life spans means a greater chance to find love. Love is a terribly important force in our world. Sometimes people die before they get a chance to really love. In the immortal words of Benedick, "When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married." So lives should be long.
   Just as a warning, these last two are a matter of opinion and occasion. As such they should not be taken as law, but rather taken into stride with a pinch of salt.
   Memories should be long. If we forget too easily, we are doomed to repeat old mistakes. I understand that some things are best forgotten. Some things are best left in the past. But if they are truly to be left in the past, then they cannot be forgotten. As soon as something is forgotten it can reemerge. If something is remembered and reviled, then it stays reviled. Without a memory of how terrible some idea was it is all too easy for someone to resuscitate it. So memories should be long.
    Lastly... Kisses should be long. At least twenty percent of them. Don't get me wrong short kisses have their place (another time another post). But there's something magical about a kiss that goes on and on until it absolutely has to stop. Those are the kisses that you share with someone in the glorious sunshine of a long day. That keep you warm during long nights. That give you a reason to live longer. And they're the kisses that stay in your memories, long after you've forgotten everything that happened around them.
So kisses should be long. If you don't believe me, try it.

-- Random

Lean on...?

 This stick belonged to my great grandfather....

                                                                                 

He leaned on it every day for many years.

Is there something you lean on?

Or do you stand alone?

Please, Stop kidding yourself.

No one stands alone.

When we try, we crumble, and return to the dust from whence we came...

Look at this. This walking stick. It's a trusted companion. It's worn, and battered, knotted and gnarled. It's cracked, it's pitted, and it's scarred. Yet a man spent a very long time leaning on it. He never had any doubt that it would support him. He walked with it through rain and shine, wind and calm. It's just a piece of wood, but it's probably more trustworthy than most of the people you know. Think about it. How many friends do you have that you would trust to balance you, to hold you up in a storm, to never deceive you about the way forward, and to be with you when you were at your absolute weakest? If you have more than one or two, you're either very lucky or very stupid. I hope it's the first. Now think about the flipside of that question. How many people would trust you to do all of those things? I hope your count is higher than mine. And I hope it includes the people you care about the most...

-- Random

P.S.
Please treat all of my posts from now on as free verse poetry.

Behind Blue Eyes...

Consider this. Behind every pair of eyes there is a story. Sometimes many stories rest behind a single pair of eyes. Sometimes, when eyes meet, new stories are born in the space of a moment. Those stories are not fiction. They are memories. They are lives. Whenever two people meet, their stories are changed. Perhaps the change is subtle. Perhaps it is so drastic that the story never returns to its original course. The questions are these: "This person, that I'm passing on the street, or shaking hands within between classes... How will they change my story?" and perhaps more intriguing, "Will I even realize it when my story changes?"

-- Random