On Freedom

Freedom is not an illusion. It is an unrealized concept. Within any social framework the concept of freedom pertains to its constituency as a whole, and the individual members are bound by governance. Consequently, to maintain a feeling of freedom while adhering to the social mandate, you must manifest the concept of freedom within your own particular cage - or not.

Other freedom challenges can include physical impairment, financial issues, obligations, property ownership, family and other relationship affiliations, and so on. Whatever your cage may look like, your freedom is what you make of it. True freedom cannot be granted or taken away. It is achieved within your own heart and mind. That is the only mantra on freedom that permits its actualization, and I live it because I choose not to fester and die by constriction.

What I Really Think

In a recent conversation while lambasting faith, television, spectator sports, gender assignment, flu shots, the patriarchy, decaffeinated coffee, and other such nonsensical and/or useless conventions and inventions,  my audience of one interrupted my soliloquy with the seemingly comedic interjected question; "So, what do you really think?" True enough, I am, and have been abrupt on many an occasion in my reactions to piety and other institutions of mindlessness – but in defense of my social skills, I most often only rail against that which has been shoved in my face, or otherwise been made unavoidable.

To me, whether it is Heaven or Hell, no mantra, dogma, or their associated ‘ism’ is too sacred for derision. Yes, I will even make sport of militant ignorance to amuse myself and other rational thinkers within earshot. Trivializing issues of grave concern is the American way of covering up or otherwise euphemizing that which we don’t want to see is it not?  And if it can’t be trivialized then you can probably get a prescription for it.

Yeah, I know - just tell us what you really think. . .

Well I think that a really good cheesecake is better with Champagne than chocolate.  And I think that Champagne is best when shared with a lover, though I dare say, it can be pretty damned good self-served a la singular. I think the earth is an imperfect spheroid in orbit around a dying star.  I think Jack must have been a dull boy to begin with for even considering cutting out play time for work. I believe Oswald was a pawn of a much larger conspiracy. I am finally convinced that there is at least a good chance that I may die some day, which consequently makes all of this seem so unimportant, and yet dramatically important at the same time, and that bodes well with my belief that all that really matters is what is happening right now.  Consequently it is my personal charge to make the best of it.  I celebrate the present, because in a very real sense, it is all that we have.

“Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around sometime, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

Skeptical and Mystical Absurdity

In a recent discussion with an online acquaintance about Skepticism and mysticism and whatnot, I found myself once again in the position of having to defend logic, reason, and rational thinking.  Much of the difficulty in maintaining focus in the conversation stemmed from the lack of common definition of critical terms.  For that reason I offer a definition of "mysticism" relevant to our discussion from Webster’s dictionary:

Mysticism: Any doctrine that asserts the possibility of attaining knowledge through intuition. 

Essentially mysticism is the acceptance of allegations as factual – a claim of some irrational means of knowledge such as intuition, revelation, or any other form of “just knowing”, also to my amusement, referred to as magical thinking.  I also draw on Webster’s definition of knowledge since that word seems to be wholly misunderstood by Skeptics and mystics. I use these published definitions because they represent a common ground for communication.  An attempt to use these words with some meaning other than their accepted published definitions removes the common ground element of communication.

My debate participant oscillated between supporting proponents of both Mysticism and Skepticism (which are logically in opposition) and being exposed to such "crazy making" anti-reasoning was challenging to say the least.  At one point he expressed having no certainty about "anything" (classic Skepticism); an unacceptable contention because I am not willing to doubt my mind's ability to form cogent interpretations of my perceptions - particularly when perceiving scientifically obtained results or any other self-evident truth. (To be certain, I am not referring to scientific skepticism which is simply the requirement of proof to substantiate knowledge.  I am specifically referring to the philosophy sector known as Skepticism - a doctrine that questions truth in knowledge, even doubting existence itself which of course is a logical absurdity).

Existence merits identification for the sake of our (humankind) understanding of the concept as such, and it is simply that existence exists.  Existence cannot be reduced to any other sub-part or component and therefore needs no other evaluation or verification.  An argument that would attempt to disprove existence would constitute an absurdity (i.e. proof by means of non-existence).

The laws of Nature are unequivocal, absolute universal corollaries of existence.  I do not mean to imply that all of Nature’s secrets are attainable.  Humankind obviously does not know or fully comprehend all of Nature’s secrets, and has miscalculated more than a few – but those discrepancies in the repository of human knowledge, in no way permit an existence that defies the natural laws.  Pardon the personification, but Nature doesn't care about the accuracy or inaccuracy of our theories concerning her order.  But the fact that Nature has secrets, and that we are as yet unable to decipher many of them, does not substantiate a general negation of knowledge and truths that have been observed and verified.  Factual, knowable information is not contingent on doubt.

The principles of an objective reality are self-evident and absolute.  (Note that I do not claim to offer proof of these principles.  An attempt to prove an irreducible self-evident principle would be equally as absurd as trying to disprove it.  To propose that these axioms are not self-evident truths would constitute a denial and evasion of reality.

By the same token, reality does not permit a claim of truth where there is no available evidence, such as the existence of god, or other such forms of mysticism or magical thinking.  The mystic’s claim of “knowledge” without any evidence to support the claim does not conform to the definition of knowledge and consequently represents nothing more than conjecture by speculation.

My debate contestant also asked what does logic have to do with the real world (implying that logic is only useful as a tool for proving Boolean expressions).  My answer was and is everything - provided that you intend on conducting your affairs and making decisions based on the precepts of reason and rational thought, but certainly logic has no bearing at all if you operate on a belief system rooted in mysticism. Thinking is an act of identifying and integrating information.  Logic is the application of non-contradictory identification.  Logic is the fundamental concept of method on which all other rational methods depend. The abandonment of logic is the first condition on which mysticism and Skepticism depend (which is likely the only commonality between those classically divergent camps).

I reject mysticism for accepting something as factual without proof, and I reject Skepticism for upholding that provable information cannot be conclusively substantiated or true.  Both of these contentions represent logical absurdities.  To assert that natural facts (i.e. existence) can not be proved is to create an unnatural dichotomy between logic and reality.  This kind of anti-reasoning is what Skepticism sustains.  Credulity in a system that permits this kind of abandonment of reason leaves its constituents within the confines of hopeless perpetual uncertainty.

The application of reason, which inherently sustains the integrity of knowledge and truth is freely available to anyone choosing to think rationally.  It is not a requirement that anyone subject themselves to the impairment of their cognitive faculties as demanded by the Skeptic and the Mystic.  Fortunately, reason and rational thinking are matters of volition.

~

Fascism American Style

American fascism is a long standing tradition that began with the arrival of Columbus and the establishment of Jamestown by the English.  In post-conquest America (after slavery and extermination of the aboriginals) fascism flourished in economic crisis.  The conservative movement today is directly derived from the Lincoln administration that defined the post-civil war oligarchic state - a vision embraced by every aspect of the modern American Republican party, from the support of the religious right, to their obsessive, mindless nationalism. This modern oligarchic movement is also blatantly racist, sexist, exclusionary, and determined to keep its hold on the American public through control of the media, and backed by its sustained implementation of military and para-military (police) force.

Some have told me that comparing the Republican party to Fascism is an extremist and alarmist point of view, but is it?  According to Wikipedia:

"Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology [that] seeks rejuvenation of the nation based on commitment to an organic national community where its individuals are united together as one people in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood through a totalitarian single-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through discipline, indoctrination, physical education, and eugenics."

Sounds like modern conservatism to me.  The modern conservative (Republican) movement promotes social change through "moral revolution", and the glorification of nationalism, just as Fascism does. Fascism and Republican conservatism  reject internationalism, pacifism, liberalism.  Republican conservative values are rooted in the concepts of social class order in which 98 percent of the population are in servitude to the ruling 2 percent. Fascism and Republican conservatism are anti-feminist as evidenced by policies on birth control and abortion (just to mention two).

There may not have been a committed institutional partnership between conservative elites and the Bush administration but most observations would testify otherwise. Advent of an American version of totalitarianism as demonstrated by Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes blossomed in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster of September 11, 2001, and there seems to be no limiting the ever expanding police state.

The conservative faction supports and promotes terrorist action by law enforcement agencies against American citizens in peaceful protest.  From here, does it escalate to murder and targeting certain groups for elimination?  Or are we already there.  From the alternative minority (GLBTQ) point of view we certainly are.

Republicans target immigrants, gays, women, and liberals for persecution. Republicans do not want the public to recognize the need to replace the corrupt media, and a government system that gets away with stealing away rights under the banner of national security and moral values.

Anyway, I digress, and ramble on.  In the absence of returning to common sense and social sanity, at the very least, now that Osama bin Laden is dead, can we please have a little dignity returned to the mass transit experience -- do away with Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, and whatever other fascist implement that was enacted after 9/11?

Answer: Probably not in my lifetime.

~

Solitude

    I made my home as far from the city as feasibly possible. Not so much for reasons as noble or lofty as to live deliberately in the woods, though I delightfully embrace that aspect as well. I came to live on the edge of a great wilderness so that I might find solitude for peaceful living and to find an environment where I might do something with my creative inspirations.

    I settled not squarely in the thick of the unshorn wild, but in a riverside cabin on the edge of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area of the Cascade mountains.  Neighboring houses can be seen through the trees, but the general occupancy of the area is elderly and quiet. Elk and deer regularly visit my cabin grounds, and the occasional bear brutally inspects my garbage can. Even though they may not welcome my presence here, I am none-the-less honored by, and welcome theirs. Very few people visit my cabin; the once or twice per year Jesus merchant, and the occasional drop-by visit of a friend/loved one, and I enjoy their good company, made sweeter by time passed in their absence.

    These ramblings may ring somewhat misanthropic, but such an interpretation would be inaccurate. Though neither is philanthropy substantially intrinsic to my nature (or yours), I am not given to indifference either. However, my first obligation is to my own health and happiness, without either of which, I would be incapable of giving back. - this unequivocal truth is a natural human fact, and it is ubiquitous, albeit woefully, and seldom acknowledged or expressed.

    Because I chose to live in the woods, despite being alone, I have yet to discover the meaning of loneliness. Within the confines of my cabin, I have little serving the effusive media machine (no television or radio); a computer for writing, employment telecommuting, social networking, blogging, and such.  This connection to the outside world is enough to satisfy whatever general need I may have for human contact (intimate companionship notwithstanding). I suppose my lifestyle is as close to hermitage that can be had while still having intimacy and employment needs.
 
    I need to be alone to bring my creative inspirations to fruition. Being in solitude brings many things to the creative and emotional table; thoughts that can lead you to tears, laughter, revelation, invention, and art. Alone is when conversation occurs spontaneously and continuously in your mind. Given ample isolation and time, you may get to know yourself.  Solitude is the condition in which creativity is afforded the opportunity to flourish without distraction. And of recent, I have been writing and singing often .....

    .... Sometimes I engage my creative energy with a walk down to the creek, which I just did at the conclusion of the last paragraph. Each season has its own song, and myriad of sun spilled colors dancing on clear water caressing the rocks beneath a flowing surface. I have pelted the creek with stone and stick, and splashed my face with its icy snow-melted freshness. In early autumn the trees still replete with yellow, orange and brown leaves, applaud the efforts of the wind with gentle hushed rustlings. They cling desperately to the mother bough, each one engaged in its own unique dance with the wind. Catching sight of one released from the clutches of its twig is as likely as predicting the point where a lightening bolt may exit a thundercloud, but I am pleased enough to watch for one, and follow the flight path of any that may enter my view. Out from under the shelter of my cabin roof and walls, I welcome the dilution of my solitude by the presence of nature. Connecting and comingling with the abundance of life outdoors feeds the fire of my inspiration further, and after some time I am torn between lingering and being compelled to go back inside to describe what I can.

    Back inside the cabin the aroma of coffee hangs in the air.  Scanning the interior with its unfilled chairs and couch, I sense the lingering essence of loved ones and visitors now gone. The floor speaks to me in crackles as I head for the kitchen and the coffee, reminding me that I am not really completely alone in my animated little home in the country. Steam from the fresh brew rises up from my cup, to remind me to sip with care. The oak table in the kitchen creaks a complaint against my resting elbows as I lean closer toward the window, in the hope of seeing something more - something I may have missed while walking; some forest creature perchance passing in the safety of my withdraw, or the flight of one more leaf.

    Shifting my gaze from the beauty beyond the window pane, back to the stillness inside, I close my eyes to look within me for the words to describe the quality and character of my solitude. These that I have written thus far, scarcely express what I had hoped to convey. I am going back outside with my coffee.

 ~