“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”


― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

Baader-Meinhof phenomenon

“… the phenomenon where one happens upon some obscure piece of information– often an unfamiliar word or name– and soon afterwards encounters the same subject again, often repeatedly.”

When you learn something new and then seem to see it everywhere.

"Slippery Slope of Evil"

There are 7 social processes that grease "the slippery slope of evil":

• Mindlessly taking the first small step
• Dehumanization of others
• De-individuation of self (anonymity)
• Diffusion of personal responsibility
• Blind obedience to authority
• Uncritical conformity to group norms
• Passive tolerance of evil through inaction or indifference

The Blind Men and the Matter of the Elephant, Interlude-Thinking in Systems - Meadows

Beyond Ghor, there was a city. All its inhabitants were blind. A king with his entourage arrived nearby; he brought his army and camped in the desert. He had a mighty elephant, which he used to increase the people's awe.

The populace became anxious to see the elephant, and some sightless from among this blind community ran like fools to find it.

As they did not even know the form or shape of the elephant, they groped sightlessly, gathering information by touching some part of it.

Each thought that he knew something, because he could feel a part..

The man whose hand had reached an ear... said, "It is a large, rough thing, wide and broad, like a rug."

And the one who had felt the trunk said, "I have the real facts about it. It is like a straight and hollow pipe, awful and destructive."

The one who had felt its feet and legs said, "It is mighty and firm, like a pillar."

Each had felt one part out of many. Each had perceived it wrongly...

This ancient Sufi story was told to teach a simple lesson but one that we often ignore:

The behavior of a system cannot be known just by knowing the elements of which the system is made.

Great Quotes

"The more you know, the more you know you don't know. "
- Aristotle, (c. 384 - 322 BCE), Plato's student, Alexander the Great's Tutor

"The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know."
- Albert Einstein, (1879 - 1955)

"I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know."
-Socrates, Plato's Apology

"The only thing I know, is that I know nothing."
- Socrates, derived from Plato's account.

Empty Spaces

Do we live our lives trying to fill voids?
Do we live to fill empty space in our mind?

Empty slates, Tabula Rasa

Do we live to fill the empty spaces we feel inside?
To prove that we are not inadequate,
to prove someone wrong,
to gain something we feel like we lost?

Do we live to fill the emptiness?
Do I live to fill this place that I have in mind, filled with all my expectations?

Are we just filled with potential energy?

We are nothing more than matter and energy
trying to fill up our time
in this open space, open system of infinity
infinite
With infinite possibilities

where we either are held down by gravity
or try to defy
defying gravity

defining your own world
your meaning of reality
that you can see in your own unique way
in your one unique way

but we are so much more than these point of view experiences
Aren’t we?

Are we more than one-dimensional objects changing with time?
Are we more than just our experiences?
living only in our mind?

Do we have the ability to transcend?

Or do we just pretend to be content?

Or are we content pretending?

Are we able to pretend?
Or do we pretend that we are able?

One way could never explain the world
the world, the universe, this space could never be explained one way

One all encompassing view
my one way
my point of view
my view, my point
my meaning

our meaning of all these empty spaces
that I am engulfed in
this space, this dimension

where we are only as happy as we make our minds out to be
to fill these empty spaces with our meaning
our reason

that leads us through all of our experiences
this combination of reason and culture

Our ideas clashing with this society
our mentality
our attitude
the way we behave within this space
within this system

and matter and energy always seem to behave by these laws that govern the physical world
physics

but in reality, we consist of endless “societies” looped with one another
Looped within one another
loops within loops, where we can’t even define where one starts and one ends.

Where did it start?
Where will it end?
Will it end?

Idea built upon idea
with every facet able to be defined, refined, challenged, accepted or defeated

these ideas, these laws, these theories that we live by
however, the system can not be defined

because the limit as time approaches infinity is infinite
Or indeterminate

It is beyond our measure
all this world can bring

and the one measure most of us look for is love
or some other aspect derived from Love, Power, Respect

and some search for serenity
some search for sanity
some search for good
some search for God
some search for easy
some search for why
some search for answers

some search for meaning

the unexamined life is not worth living,

right?

but first we ensure our survival
which gives us food, safety, and shelter as our top priorities before we can begin to bring meaning

I am a human
I am a fortunate human
well I’m a human who has food, safety and shelter
I don’t need to fight for food
I don’t need to fight for a home
I don’t need to fight for my life

I am alive,
Survival is no longer my quest, at least not for today

Although the survival of my genetic material and reproduction becomes a goal

We continue to fight, for land, for food, for resources, for power
for influence
to extend our ideas
our lives
to become transcendent

to live
to breathe
to expand

Paint a Picture

I'll paint a picture of me
You'll paint a picture of you
I'll like what I'll see
We'll see if it's true
Can this really be?

I'll paint a picture of you
you'll paint a picture of me
One of us will say, "I love you"
The other will hesitate and say,
"I love you too"
We'll smile and kiss
until one day I'll miss

I miss you
I miss you too
No, you hang up
What's the hold up?
I'll paint a picture of you

You'll paint a picture of me
It'll be a picture of two

They'll be jealous of us

We'll make promises we hope to keep
some we will
some we won't
but I promise you I never meant to hurt you

I'll paint a picture of us
You'll paint a picture of us
but one day
I love you won't be enough
It'll be the way you said it
And I won't believe you anymore
I won't think you meant it

Painting makes you believe in make believe.

Then I'll be busy
Painting a picture of you
while you’re painting a picture of me
But it's no longer us
Because there's no longer trust
And you'll be busy
painting a picture of you
and I'll be busy
painting a picture of me
that I won't want anybody to see


it's not you, it's me
it's not me, it's you

until I find someone
that can understand
I don't want to paint a picture of you
I don't want to paint a picture of me

I just want to be
but I'm busy
Painting a picture of you
You're painting a picture of me
some made up fantasy
for the world to see.

Serenity Prayer [Adapted]

...Grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, this world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that time will make all things right
if I surrender, but stay true

That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy
Forever

A letter that is written but never sends

Sometimes
The people that are closest
don't seem close at all

feel like they're watching
waiting for me to fall
they don't understand
that sometimes I don't make the call

25 years
but it seems like a century
a story that never ends
a path that never bends
a fence that never mends

a letter that is written but never sends
is like a life that never begins and never ends

but all men must die
we'll pretend we're not scared

we quickly find our pair
while I'm listening to the snare

off the beat
while I off the beat
stomp my feet

you think I'm messing up
but I swear that is how it is
supposed to go

listening to the sound
listening to the flow

I play until I get lost
I play until I get lost in the music
I play until I get lost in the flow
I play until I get lost in the moment

until the guitar riff would make a sane man sick

I can't stop listening
I can't stop playing

it's late
in the song now

I doubt anybody made it up to here
Nobody is really listening to what I'm saying

What I'm spraying
as notes, and chords
dischords
chirping out of me

It's an enigma my enemy

you're mystery is a friend of me

you're barely somebody that I used to know

and I know love hurts

cliche after cliche
clash after clash
dash after dash
pass after a pass

it's a mess I must confess
but I digress
it's all just a test to figure out the best
separate from the rest

sometimes
the people that are closest
know you better than you
sometimes
the people you never meet
know you best

Einstein Quote

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”  -Albert Einstein

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