Stay there
It is a good
Place to be
Besides, surety
Is most often a
State of limbo
Be certain of
Not knowing
Then you will know
You are correct
Undoubtedly
At gedankenexperiments *
Even though I am the
Only one participating
Running through scenarios
Like the W.O.P.R computer
War Operation Plan Response
In the movie “War Games”
Cycling through tic-tac-toe or
Thermo Nuclear war outcomes
In fantastical, what if options
Then what next possibilities
In a neverending quest for truth
Everything changes with each
Addition and subtraction
Of good ideas gone awry or
Bad concepts resurrected
Still, the search continues
“Look For The Truth”
All my dark dreams drift like smoke in the breeze
The fear grips me as I fall towards my sleep
Here comes the nightmare that never ends
Here is the dream that makes monsters of men
In the house of my soul
In rooms of ugliness and cold
Memories locked away
All the doubts and fears I never faced
Now they come again
I am falling down to meet with them
Fears within us all
Mine awake, and they stand up tall
Look for the truth
Deepest cut of all from you
Knife of the truth
Blade of hatred slicing through
I pray my sleep will break
Maybe this time, I won’t wake
Weakness I hide so well
This dagger, in my mind, will tell
It’s my final stand
I make a fist out of each hand
To shadows of the past
Take a breath, and I scream, “Attack!”
Look for the truth
Deepest cut of all from you
Knife of the truth
Blade of hatred slicing through
Here is the truth
Deepest cut of all from you
Knife of the truth
Blade of hatred slicing through
– Iron Maiden
* I know thought experiment
States the same thing clearer, but
Gedankenexperiments sounds cooler
When the world
Needs them most
What happened
To Flash Mobs?
“I just think it is interesting to see how people act on their beliefs, you know what I mean. Because your beliefs are just that, they are just how you were taught and raised. That doesn’t make them real.”
– Bill Hicks
How you were taught and raised
How you were taught and raised…….
One believes not because
Something is believable
But rather that one
Chooses to believe it
Evidence be dammed
Overwhelming or nonexistent
Ironically, that which is…..
Believable……has…..proof
When considering a belief of “yours”
Stated from a position that
You wholeheartedly believe it
If you put it, using other words
Such as plausible perception
It begs to question its validity
I believe any belief could be
Verified or disregarded
Using that recontextualized
Presentation for questioning
Let’s say one says they believe
In heaven and hell
Usually, more heaven than hell
But if, instead, said
I have a plausible perception
Of heaven and hell
It might inspire questioning
Where that belief came from
Causing one to inquire of themselves
What are those vague concepts based on
You guessed it…. nothing / no thing
Save for it being in a book
(If a book was published about me
Stating that I am charming, smart,
Witty, good-looking, wealthy, and funny
Would be nice but would not make it so)
No matter how many times
Everybody read it
Reality would beg to differ
Especially if I wrote it
Save, contributing to my
Own narcissistic agenda
“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion however satisfying and reassuring”
– Carl Sagan
Oopsie
“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…. Aha-ah…
“Imagine”
– John Lennon
Because certainly there is zero proof
Save for a collective mind construct
That makes them non things that are “so”
After all, neither can have a fixed place
No thing, nothing has a fixed place
If it did, it wouldn’t be a thing
But rather, the singularity of an anomaly
Even more irrational than the Big Bang
Every thing, everything is moving
Either by the molecules themselves
Or their collective movement
Through the cosmos and beyond
In a highly technical, extremely loving
Virtual reality that is very real
Made up by what seems unreal
Since it is mostly empty space
Through waves and particles
Appearing solid when observed (particles)
Yet nonexistent when not (waves)
“What is wanted is not the will to believe but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite.”
– Bertrand Russell
Wishful thinking is not a good reason to believe something
“You’ve gotta respect everyone’s beliefs.”
No, you don’t.
That’s what gets us in trouble. Look, you have to acknowledge everyone’s beliefs, and then you have to reserve the right to go:
“That is fucking stupid. Are you kidding me?”
I have have an uncle who believes he saw Sasquatch. We do not believe him nor do we respect him!
– Patton Oswalt
That in a world of
Diametricly opposed
Polar opposites
With coordinating labels
Liberal, Democratic, left, blue
Conservative, Republican, right, red
That both sides equally support
Either aggressively or passively
(Basically, War Hawks or Dove Hawks)
The Military Industrial Complex
Because their constituents need jobs
To support their “patriotic” families
While other families lose their members
To violent unnecessary deaths
Because corporations need access
To cheap and plentiful resources
Is it not strange?
In a cycle of wash rinse repeat or
Brainwash, regurgitate, retribution
Profiting of off killing God’s children
In a convoluted, us vs. us strategy
Even though everyone shares
More than 99.9% of the same DNA
Is it not strange?
Plus, both sides adhering to
Some version of the rule of law
As long as it doesn’t apply to the Hawks
Likewise, the Prison Industrial Complex
Flipping coins to see who lives or dies
Interchangeable never questioning why
In a gambit of legalese wrangling
As long as power says
It is okey dokey to do
J Q public will put up with it too
Since it is not happening to them
Is it not strange?
When the major religions
Feed off different distinctions of
Love thy neighbor as thyself
Unless of course, one does not
Believe in the same prophet/profiteer
In a do as I say not as I do behavior
Jesus loved everyone and from what
Little I’ve read, didn’t kill anyone, ooops
Advised forgiveness of one’s enemies
That whole turn the cheek thingy
Is it not strange?
All are driven to distraction
Away from their divinity by
Following bouncing balls
Of many sizes and designs
Iridescent shiny objects
Each more appealing
Everytime they bounce
Is it not strange?
Safety, security, serenity
Is just around the corner
If only each could be caught
Placed back in Pandora’s box
Each side wanting the same
From different perspectives
Immigrants, transgenders
Criminals and homeless
While the other side wants
To eradicate billionaires
Bosses and politicians
Both tucked away nicely so
One could live free, freely
Is it not strange?
Meanwhile, not seeing ourselves
In the perfect mirrors
Reflecting back ourselves
In any given moment
The good, bad, beautiful, and ugly
All moments every moment
Is it not strange?
Disqualifies itself
As a voice of reason
Proof and verifiability
By clinging to
An unprovable cliche
As its go to theory
(Much like religion)
That everything
Came from nothing
Save for a microscopic dot
That exploded once and
Made a very loud noise
Most often referred to as
“The Big Bang”
None of which Science can
Point to any proof of at all
Save for an accepted theory
Even within the scope of
The observable universe
Which is said to be 90 million
Light years across in any
Direction from the Pale Blue Dot
(That is a big f’n area)
And within that big, mostly space
Absolutely zero evidence, hmmm
It’s just an underlying verbal tic
Regurgitated and repeated as if
To convince themselves it is true
If science wanted to redeem itself
It would declare that everything exists infinitely
After all, there is proof of that everywhere
The same goes for religion
It likewise could state that all is God
You, me, space, voids, vacuums, light,
Cats, dogs, electricity, water, air,
Lakes, deserts, mountains, valleys,
Hospitals, prisons, guns, schools, etc.
I am a whole part of a whole
Which I am also its entirety
Therefore, there is no place
Science and God are not
The same goes for heaven and hell
There is no observable place for either
Save for what one makes of
Their situation at any moment
Presupposing a story or theory
To hang a hat on so that everything
That is told after it makes sense
Makes no sense
There is zero proof of
Creation or a big bang
It is much more valid to
Not only believe but prove
Everything exists
Infinitely forever while
Merely changing shape
Content and context as
The miracle in that alone
Ought to keep everyone
Animated in a state of awe
With God and Science or
Without God and Science
“Just an observation,
Maybe I need
Different glasses.”
– Angelo Devlin
To make is a point
Not to make a point
Even though it is on
The tip of your tongue
Sharp as a diamond
Yet small enough to
Follow a tiny groove
Loaded in a track to
Play a symphony or
Thrash metal music
One must anticipate
How or what and if
The other person
Is willing or ready
To hear your point
Most will fall
On deaf ears
Or blind eyes
Unless their mind
Is open to hear and see
The hardest point
The medium / median point
Would be to let it be “their” idea
“We teach best
what we need to learn
most ourselves.”
– Richard Bach
Silence would be
The softest point
Yet, the hardest point
“Keep it to yourself
Yeah, keep it to yourself
Yeah, keep it to yourself. “
– Kacey Musgraves
Are you overloaded
With useless opinions, then
We have a format for you
You will find it randomly
In your social media feed
On your thumb powered
Conveyor belt of distraction
Deception and devolution
Whereas in pixilated print
We will select a trigger topic
That is sure to enrage you
Enough to get fingers typing
Knee jerk rapid responses
Bypassing human filters to
Question the source or
Validity of the information
That has no intention of
Drawing a conclusion or
Compiling evidence to curb
What triggers many
For the longest time
The staples used to be
Flag burning, guns, and abortion
On their timed distraction rotation
Simple, easy, and cliché’d responses
Stop, more and none
Now, it’s a free-for-all cacophony
Of tenacious trigger topics
Transgender, patriotism,
Fascism, pedophilia, flat earth,
Moon landings, hoaxes,
Conspiracies, billionaires,
Pronouns, immigration,
Education and vaccinations
Sweltering in ignorance
Regurgitating rhetoric
For the sake of staring
In a mirror that reflects
Nothing of what you see
Save perpetuating
Petty petulance of
I’m rubber, you’re glue
Na nya nana nya ya
By alleged adults with
Jobs and responsibilities
Oozing narcissism that
Their words are the capstone
To close the conversation
Meanwhile, thousands more
Chime in with their two cents
That isn’t worth the digital
Display it appears on
All because they fell
For the nonsense
Hook, line, and sinker
Stop, Think, Move on
So you are not hooked
By stinking liars
To experience
Whatever “it” is
It wasn’t fatal
Besides, even if
It was fatal
That would simply
Be another experience
It doesn’t end things
If you were you
Before you got here
Getting here
Is an experience
Likewise, leaving here
Is* an experience
Regardless of how
You exit the stage
“The program for this evening is not new
You’ve seen this entertainment through and through
You’ve seen your birth your life and death
You might recall all of the rest
Did you have a good world when you died?
Enough to base a movie on?
I’m getting out of here
Where are you going?
To the other side of morning
Please don’t chase the clouds, pagodas”
“The Movie” “An American Prayer “
– The Doors
* (Will be) would suggest
A “first” “time” experience
When logically, it seems
That would not be the case
“If you can just get your mind together
Then come on across to me
We’ll hold hands, and then we’ll watch the sunrise
From the bottom of the sea
But first, are you experienced?
Or have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have
I know, I know you probably scream and cry
That your little world won’t let you go
But who in your measly little world
Are you trying to prove that
You’re made out of gold and, uh, can’t be sold?
So uh, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have
Ah, let me prove it to you
Trumpets and violins I can, uh, hear in the distance
I think they’re calling our names
Maybe now you can’t hear them, but you will, ha-ha
If you just take hold of my hand
Oh, but are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful”
– Jimmy Hendrix
As long as I’m closing
This out with lyrics
Here are a few more
“There’s time to live and time to die
When it’s time to meet the maker
There’s time to live, but isn’t it strange
That as soon as you’re born, you’re dying…
…and reborn again??”
“The Clairvoyant”
– Iron Maiden
“Mark my words believe my soul lives on
Don’t worry now that I have gone
I’ve gone beyond to seek the truth
When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you’ll begin to understand
Life down there is just a strange illusion
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Hallowed be Thy name
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Hallowed be Thy name”
“Hallowed be Thy name”
– Iron Maiden
Can you imagine the amount
Of infinite experiences that
Can go on in infinity, infinitely
That would certainly make
Whatever your current conundrum is
Just another experience
To be chalked up…….
“Infinite Dreams”
There’s got to be just more to it than this
Or tell me why do we exist
I’d like to think that when I die
I’d get a chance another time
And to return and live again
Reincarnate, play the game
Again and again and again.”
– Iron Maiden
And finally…….
“People say maybe you’ll come back.
Reincarnation. Do you think so? Well, it doesn’t seem mathematically possible to me, man.
Ah, ’cause at one time, all we had on the Earth was 6 people, you know. I avoid 2 because it’s controversial, but 6. Most people will agree, “Oh fuck ya, we had 6 at one time, yeah” 6 people, 6 souls. Cool!
They died, souls went back to the place. 6 new people, souls *Whew* Still 6 souls.
Now we have 4 (8) billion people, claiming to have souls………………
Someone is printing up souls. And it lowers their value, you know.”
– George Carlin
Is trusting that you exist
As a sentient being with
A subjective perspective as a
Grand part of a greater whole
Logic dictates that you do not
After all, the molecules that
Make you up, zip around
With their own intention
None of which you have the
Slightest inkling of control
“You have nothing in your hands. Any power you have comes to you, from far beyond. Everything is fixed, and you can’t change it.”
JC
“Jesus Christ Super Star”
It is my best understanding
Which seems highly likely that
Every cell that makes you up
Is replaced every eleven years
Oxygen and blood go quicker
While bones take much longer
Still, you are not the same person
You were eleven years ago
If that is the case, who are you
“As soon as you’re born, you’re dying,”
– Iron Maiden
All of “you” has been replaced
By a nearly identical you
Mostly through consuming,
Digestion, peeing, flushing,
Breathing, washing, cutting,
Exercising, sweating, and sleeping
Note: You lose weight while asleep
Where did that part of “you” go?
Speaking of sleep
If you were told that
Shortly after closing your eyelids
For longer than two seconds
You’d be whisked off to a location
For six to eight hours
Unbeknownst to where you are going
Or what would happen to you
While you were away
You would fight it tooth and nail
But instead, you actually intend that
Having faith that you will return
Unharmed and rested to do what you do
All over again, modifying it slightly
On a nihilistic and narcissism treadmill
That keeps you moving towards nothing
Save for maybe being a better human
Then you may have been the day before
Why?
“Cause I gotta’ have faith
I gotta have faith
Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith
I got to have faith, faith, faith, “
“Faith”
– George Michael
Looking at the world through a windshield. 