Can I Borrow a Ray of Sunshine?

               Holidays For Sale Sentiment Half Off!

In case you haven't figured it out, this will be about emotional transference.  A fancy way of saying emotions about one thing or person, put on another thing or person.  This happens so often, and usually without our being aware we have done it.  Sometimes it's a natural response to repeated experience. Like when a dog beaten by a person in uniform starts barking whenever a person in uniform is around.  This is the same process at play in learning fire burns, you transfer that

experience onto another experience, and avoid the pain.  So far so good, but when you start to proactively use that understanding you get some very creative, if morally questionable results. 

What does this have to do with holidays you might ask?  Well so far I've talked about examples of negative transference, but what about positive.  That is where the holidays come in, when you see a brand use a holiday on the packaging, advertising, and marketing campaigns they are banking on at least some of those pleasant feelings you have will slide on over to them.  Taken to the extreme and you get the diamond market, this might be the most classic marketing example, and one of my personal favorites.  I say favorite with all sarcasm, but the it is amazing, that people were able to take an artificially scarce stone.  Then so completely attach it's value to symbolic for the love between a man and woman.  On top of that, make it a virtually mandatory expense as a part of the marriage rites.  Even people that have read, and already know the scam will turn around a few minutes later, and fall right back under the spell.  

                    Is that Love or Emotional Hijacking?

On a much more intimate and personal level, this same idea started to be taught, with various titles from art of seduction, to the pick up artist.  To be clear, from my perspective there is no way to morally use this kinda of information in this way.  The reason I feel this is simple, it is the same process that happens naturally and honestly when people develop a love relationship. So when someone understands how these work, they no longer work, and if they do work than your being deceptive.

      When two people meet, and the attraction is honest and genuine there is the natural desire to learn everything you can about the other person.  Usually at least early on, the other person is more interesting than we are ourselves.  This real desire to put another before self sets up automatic transference.  When the other person is so rapt in attention to your thoughts, and emotions, it's very easy to see your own feelings reflected back.  This back and forth is the investment of your own emotions into the other, it's the trick of love, that isn't a trick at all till we make it one.

       That is the problem I have in teaching this information as a means of what amounts to conquest. It turns what was one of the most wondrous experiences people can share, and turns it into sales, and

marketing of the most insidious fashion.  When people are taught to use psychological tricks on each other real time, we are on shaky ground.  I am going to single out males because this is primarily being taught to males, with reasons that might be as twisted and messed up as the teaching of it. So if a male with this understanding puts into practice it's not about love, it's about sex.  It is not about the individual woman it is being used on, point of fact it is going to become a numbers game.  So our guy understanding transference, basicly trolls the room, picking out as many possible females to start working.  When a likely prey reveals itself, it's time to move in, separate them from the herd, this is an important step, much easier to work past the defenses of one person, than a group of people.  Once in isolation, the man in question does everything possible to say nothing. The fewer words our fellow says the more likely he is to accomplish his goal.  As I said this is a numbers game, and by the numbers women are far more forgiving as to physical traits than men. Generally it's not the looks of a man that decides if a he is an acceptable mate.  So for our guy, he is not as much working to get her to desire him, as he is trying to not do something stupid to eliminate himself.  This is not as tough as it might seem, being attentive is the foundation.  All it takes is get her to talk about her passions, and lets face it we all like to talk about the things we love.  At this point it's done, the feelings, and passions will be transferred onto our Guy, and all he needs to do is not break the spell.  That is my problem with it, our guy is being taught to be dishonest in order to fulfil natural physical drives we all share. There are no winners in this approach.

            To Worship False Idols

There is much trepidation in the writing and posting of this section, with a great temptation to just leave it off.  Even most that have been right with me so far will recoil from what I am about to write as having already lambasted love, I'm about to slap religion around a bit as well.  Before I do so, I want to again state, this not intended as an offence or attack on anyone or organization.  There are wonders, and horrors to be found in everything.  If for whatever reason you find these ideas over the line, stop reading, label me crazy, and go on with your life.  I won't be offended, or hurt, and neither will you.

    At their core all our religious, and societal structures have through out history strove to do one thing. Unite and focus the energy of a group of people, that are by nature individualistic and resistant to homogenization.  Think of the idea of trying to herd cats, or how wilful toddlers can be, and you have the concept I'm going for.  To accomplish this, they use the idea of dedication to something larger than self.  Secular or Faith based does not matter the outcome is a ideology, with all the trappings positive and negative. So we can have secular saints, zealots of atheism, and holy wars. These are all done the same way, a process almost of deification that is seemingly well understood, and has been for countless ages.  If you haven't figured it out already, I'm talking about how worship

works, how we interact with divinity.  In crafting our ceremonies, rituals, rallies, what have you, there is purpose. The purpose is always the same, to guide the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, to an end.  No matter the end, for good or ill, the dynamics involved are the same, predictable, and exploitable.  Just take a look at the people who have changed the world, they understood theater very well.  Even a historic figure as reviled as  Hitler is known to have trained in oratory skills, his rallies finely tuned works of theater to weave an emotional trance state in the attendees.  A group hypnosis, where the voice of the rational mind is drowned out by the emotional attachments being manipulated.
I know we all like to think we are strong willed individuals that would never get swept up by the sentiments of the crowd.  The truth is the desire to give up our self into the care of something larger than yourself is seemingly fundamental to our make up.  We want to believe, and often so badly we fool ourselves, or make excuses.  Even religion, it has nothing to do with God, it is the exploitation of our own fear of mortality.  If there is a religion that is actually focused on God, and not on man I have yet to become aware of it.  Being human centric they concern themselves with how divinity can assist humans, or what the plan of divinity is for humanity.  They exploit some fairly basic psychological truths, not a one of us can ever live up to our own vision of perfection. So we will always see ourselves as horribly flawed, even when our external response is to project perfection. That the unknown is both exciting and terrifying, something we always want to glimpse, but not get any on us.  The trifecta for religion is an comforting partial truth or outright lie on the fate of those we have lost.  You ever stop to wonder how odd it is to have an intermediary to the ineffable, the unknowable.


in closing there is love enough for everyone, more than we can bear, and if the sun ever stops shining it's love upon us, by the time we realize it, we will already be dead.

as always make up your mind.
Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

   

LSD a Lost Soul's Dream

                     Disclaimer

I have not had any contact with LSD for about 20 years. So no I do not know where to get any, and thank you, but I have no wish to purchase any.  This is not intended as an endorsement or condemnation of any substance or practice that seeks to alter consciousness.  The very fact differentiated states of consciousness exist, and within this experience we can access them means they will be accessed.  There are myriad methods of altering consciousness, the truth of which is simple.  What is changed is not consciousness, only our individual experience of it.  Our experience, what we have termed consciousness, mind, emotion, spirit, physicality can be looked at as structured, and structuring of data.  Not unlike how a computer functions, with a series of on/off switches linked structures directing electrical flow into set patterns which can be assigned definitions, and repeated, to create desired effects.  This really is not surprising when you understand everything external is a representation of something internal.  We do not so much create, as imitate and adapt, if you feel something is original or out of left field, it is only that you have yet to experience what is being externalized.  From another perspective, we can only create that which the rules of the universe flower of life, or tree of life.  These are overlapping, and interlocking creating what has been termed the holofractal. Like in music where the space between the notes are of equal import to the notes played.  Our experience we call reality is based as much on what is not seen, heard or felt, as what is seen, heard, and felt.  Where ever you are at the moment, what ever your doing, roughly 95% of what is taking place, you are unaware of.  In other words, what you are experiencing right now, is based on only 5% of the information around you.  Not that you are limited to a particular portion of the information. Often it is a matter of our own focus that becomes the limiting factor, another is not having a method of interpretation.  Basicly we need the framework for the experience to fit in, before we are able to make sense of the experience.  We have an idea of singularity, stemming from our own sense of self, which we project onto creation, and are rewarded with confirming feedback.  This is the very idea of god, the universe, creation whatever you want to call it, coming to you as you are able to currently accept it.  What we normally consider a singular I, is at minimum 3 repeated I's interwoven, this is reflected to us everywhere. From as abstract as no thing can be said to be, or event have happened till it confirmed by 2 independent sources. Right on through to body/mind/spirit, and a table or chair needing at least 3 legs to stand on it's own. Or even in the song lyrics from P.M. Dawn, "we always are, because we never were".  Each breath, each step, every thought, everything we ingest, all of it, alters how we perceive the experience we call life. The difference being the nature of that change, and how closely that change is relatable to your current experience. With what we call psychoactive compounds we have a chemical code used to create predictable physiological changes, that can change what information we process, and or how we process it.   From here it is not difficult to understand, why and how, already brilliant people that partake of these compounds, it often leads to new insights.  The insights were always there, the person just needed the eyes to see them.  Also why some do not find their way back, or when they do are fundamentally altered.

allow.  If we could it would not be a rule, it would be a guideline.  Most of our confusion in the nature of mind, and consciousness stem from our world view called materialism.  The conception that all things rise from matter, that our consciousness is created by the body.  There is much to be learned from this model, however it is not reflected in as absolute in our experience.  Even in our ideas of how the universe sprang into being from the big bang, start not with the heaviest elements, and particles, but with the lightest,  This experience is not predicated on the singular, but on an interplay between interconnected repeated patterns. These can be thought of as spheres of influence, represented in scared teachings such as the

              My Time in the Cloud

In the 90's there was a resurgence in LSD, it was suddenly everywhere, and I was well placed to participate.  The time, access and inclination combined perfectly to have me experimenting for a couple of years, often dosing a couple of times a week.  After my initial introduction, it was quickly apparent, this was not a party time drug, but a tool for the exploration of self.  That was precisely how I approached it, not from a scientific method, but a personal tool to understand who, and what I am, and how I relate to everything normally viewed as not me.  When ingesting LSD my intention was in general to move as far away from what I normally viewed as me.  This usually involved ingesting a

10 strip, and sequestering myself to my room, and meditating for hours on end.  There became a point where my intention was to get to a point where verbal communication was no longer viable due to the individualized definitions we each have for every word we know.   This I came to understand is related to the idea, you can not listen while your speaking, or listening being an active thing, not passive.  Once my projections slowed, and stopped, impressions normally washed out by my own noise became clear. When the return to my normal conscious state would come into sight, a furious rush of activity would ensue. Attempting to ground the realization into my physical experience, and often followed by synchronistic events to flesh out, or serve as confirmation.  Not that what is experienced is always accurate, this owning in large part to the ability of person to comprehend, and relate the experience.  As well as what is being experienced is not about truth, or fact, but the experience itself.  My active use time with LSD eventually ended, with a clear concise message, stating unequivocally if I continued it would become a detriment, and not a benefit.  Basicly I had blown the crap out of my mind, to where it would begin to shatter, not stretch.  So what did I learn from my time with LSD?  Nothing at all.  What I experienced though changed me in ways I am still working on understanding.  I'll share 2 very different journey's, what you make of them is up to you, each are and were valid and true for me in their own way.  In no way should anything I've said so far, or am going to say, is intended for any validation, or rejection from the reader.  The act of sharing itself is the motivation. My current understanding tells me, my unique perspective on what I have experienced is all I have to offer, and what makes me, uniquely me.

                   People Powers

I am a people person, thats not to say I like everyone, or even desire to interact with people all the time.  Point of fact I am quite selective on those I call friend. This is of course only a reflection on me, and not an accurate reflection of those I know, or am aware of, but do not count as friend.  When I call myself a people person, it's that the relationships we develop, or dismantle are what has meaning here.  More so than anything else that is what lasts, even in our looking back in history it's through a lens of how it relates to us.  My fascination with people, as well as a certain detached perspective far precede my LSD adventure.  Back into early childhood, of being an only child raised by a single mother, plenty of time to be with myself, and live with my own choices.  Little wonder

that when a personal introduction to universal teaching happened, it was couched in terms of people.

      During one of my early 10 strip meditation sessions, a number theory was laid out for me, I claim no origination of it, not even an original take on it. Only that it was new to me.  As I would come to learn after, what I was describing has been around forever, and called many things. For me it came as what made solid circles of people. The idea is quite simple, you are a set, when you interact with another set, the 2 of you create a new super-set, that encompasses both of you.  This idea of creating a new set that is an amalgamation of the subset is repeated through the primary numbers.  The theory laid out which of these groupings would self regulate, and which would require constant attention, or risk collapse.  As it went through, the numbers, laid out was how to pattern group dynamics to be self regulating, with this being scaleable.

1 is complete and whole unto itself, it needs nothing else to be complete.  This is the idea of a person becoming self contained, as long as they remain isolated they are a stable unit.

2 the idea of a couple, this can be, but is not on it's own a stable unit. Each involved must make a concerted effort to maintain the super-set, or it will either, break into 2 sets of 1, or it will attract a 3rd.  This is that idea of intense bursts of intimacy, That either blossom into a more complex expression, or finds it's completion and satiation before withdrawing into comfortable boundaries.

3 This is where first station of stability, groups of 3 are self stabilizing, where the desires and motivations of the individuals are balanced not on the shoulders of one, but all there.  This is not to say all interactions between 3 people are balanced, only that they are self balancing. with the balance point of each trine being a representation of the combined energies of each participant.  I can almost feel the "victims" of the broken atomic families, mother, father, child scream in horror.  The negatively viewed experiences most have from break downs in nuclear family structures happen before the child is brought into the picture usually.  Most these come from the lies we tell each other in those intense bursts of intimacy.  I know, I know, the idea that men and women both lie about what they really want out of those intense bursts is absurd.

     For the purposes of this article I don't feel a need to go through all the numbers, much the same information I would impart can be found all over, and not my purpose in the writing this.  A few days after this I was down at the local metaphysical shop, it was Bethel, CT in the 90's even that there was a high profile shop of this type was new.  In talking with the owner, she was amazing as I attempted to impart this theory, listening like it was of actual interest, not the ravings of drugged. When I finished she asked me if I had heard of the  kabbalah as what I had described to her were the basis of it's teachings.  That was my first interaction with the word, of the system it represents. now that would be a neat trick. Just as an interesting anecdote or at least interesting to me. I was introduced to the teachings of the Kabbalah in town, who's name is hebrew for house of God.

         Under the Sea

Growing up in the US, an exposure to the idea of armageddon or the end of earth are pretty tough to avoid.  I can remember having dreams of it, going back to before I am able to pinpoint.  This pervasive theme was brought into a fullness of being so painful, it wrecked me, shredded boundaries of emotional separation I was not even aware existed, and to a certain extent I had to spend years reconstructing to be able to deal with being in large public areas with lots of people around without being energetically overwhelmed,  becoming strung out off the combined emotional output of the crowd. As you might have guessed this was a stark contrast to the above experience, yet it also involved the focus on people, a 10 strip, and prolonged meditation.  Though I had like most had heard of ideas of mass consciousness, it was always something remote, not something a person interacted with directly.  At some point that conception morphed, into the idea, that if the concept of a collective consciousness was truth, than being a portion of it, I could essentially go back through the downstream of it, and experience it directly.  In doing so I found myself confronted by what I can only describe as a guardian.  Not a guardian to barr my path, one to warn me, that where I was headed was a danger to the ego attempting to experience it. .  Having no frame of reference for this warning it went unheeded, and off I went into the storm.  Finding myself in what seemed to be the mother of cyclonic storm systems, organized chaos, raw, rough, with seemingly no awareness of it's own actions, or their effects.  This was in large part due to my clinging to a spot, by standing in opposition to the flow of mass consciousness, it was left with no choice but remove the obstruction.
. The ego fog ripped away, the main Island of Japan was far below me, every person felt as if it was me.  Like I was experiencing Japan from the perspective of it's group consciousness.  Only it was in process of being reclaimed by the sea, The water rushing in so quickly with so little warning no one had anywhere to flee to.  This was felt as unadulterated terror, rage, fear, millions upon millions of people dying in pain, and fear in a matter of moments.  I remember very clearly that it was not their death that was so painful for me, that was a normal expected outcome of life. The pain I felt was the dying in a state of fear, in the belief they were alone.  It was the nature of the death that was the pain, and there were bastions of calm, people who had no fear, and were at peace with this event, but in the main people believed themselves to be isolated in life, and felt themselves slide into a cold isolation of darkness in death. Not that it was accurate, as no one is ever alone, small balm to one in the experience of it. 

Again do not take this as a recommendation, endorsement. I would not change my time with LSD, there also would be a cautionary tale for anyone wishing to embark on their own exploration.

Be Careful what you wish for, the universe is a giant yes machine

as always make up your own mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

Your Children, Your Choice

               Peter the Pirate

Many of you would most likely see me as suffering from a peter pan complex, and that might be one of the kinder labels tossed in my direction.  While I do not argue the label, there is the inclination to challenge the validity of the mainstream concept of an adult.  Most in making the judgement are not questioning my intelligence, maturity, or understanding.  Often it's quite the opposite, with my analysis, and understanding being valued, and sought.  The seeming disconnect happens from my perspective in large part due to how people define an adult.  So what makes a well adjusted adult human?  Is it being able to conform and fit in, becoming a "successful contributing member of society"?  To a degree this would seem an obvious answer, how could one argue with being a success?  What happens when a culture is sick, is it still the rational choice to become what that culture covets?  This is of course the idea, that being considered sane in an insane society is not a measure of psychological health.  Take a little stroll with me, and maybe, just maybe, you'll find a little bit of the Pan you once were.

                Institutionalized

In the west we are so proud of our institutions, be they educational, financial, religious, the list goes on and on.  We leave off the flip side, prisons, mental hospitals, we do this because in general people have been taught to see the world in terms of polarity.  This of course ignores the fact, these are opposames masquerading as opposites, with the outcome of being institutionalized.

  : to cause (a custom, practice, law, etc.) to become accepted and used by many people : to establish (something) as an institution

: to put (someone, such as a mentally ill person) in an institution

These are connotations of pavlovian conditioning, not education, or child development. Taken to it's extreme the goal of an institution is to become indispensable, and condition those in it to become unable to function without it.  There is ample evidence this has been intentional, of course labeled as conspiracy theory.  Frankly that it has gotten that most dismissive of labels only warrants closer inspection.  Take moment, and look for yourself, Dodd Report, deliberate dumbing down,

or even though I'm leary of Alex Jones. Our much vaunted education system was hijacked long ago to keep a fresh supply of human capital ready for exploitation by the corporate institutions.  We want to believe so badly in basic beneficence of our culture, that we ignore some basic facts.  Entrenched systems of power seek to protect their position. Our leaders are selected from, and by these same institutions.  People say they wish only happiness for their children, or they wish for their child to be the best them they can be. Than they package them off to be institutionalized so they can find their place in society.

              Taking Candy from the Mouths of Babies Mama's

Marketing and Consumerism go hand in glove, like peanut butter, and jelly, and damn have we gotten good at it.  I have no doubt even Edward Bernays would be amazed by the level of sophistication our propaganda has risen to.  I call it propaganda because that is exactly what it is, structuring information to create a desired outcome.  In this case parting someone from some currency in exchange for a product, or service.  As corrupt and shortsighted as this economic model might be on the whole. When directed at children, it might just be a crime against humanity.  An extreme statement to be sure, but one that is not very difficult to back up.  Critical reasoning skills are needed in order to counter the automatic psychological processes exploited by advertisers.  Child development, and psychology experts are employed by organizations who have as their motivation profit. These folks use all their skill and understanding, not to enrich the life of your child.  Nah it's used to know how to make advertising that gets your child to ask for the product in as few as views as possible.  So what you say, my 5 year old does not make the buying decisions in my household.  Only our experts on conditioning have that all worked out as well.  We all have a surrender point, where we will agree to almost anything if only to make something stop.  If you think this is something exploited only in interrogation, just think back to how many times you have caved to repeated pestering by your child.  This is so well understood, even the big media creation outlets, such as disney, or nickelodeon have a nice predictable path set out for your childs idols.  Introducing the faces they will grow up watching, engendering a sense of connection and trust.  Using techniques as having the stars be just older than the audience, exploiting that natural tendency of looking up to those ahead of you.  Transitioning actors with a generation, so as a group ages there is a continuity, and trust is deepened. This is even taken to the point of switching from childrens tv shows to music seemingly just as your teen has seeming grown headphones.  In this obvious industrialized exploitation, and abuse of our young, it's unclear to me what is more disturbing.  That it's happening at all, or that those who are supposed experts on child development, and psychology have raised no moral objections.    

    Judged by Our Hero's

There is a metric often used to understand the health of a culture, as well as where in the development cycle a civilization is.  Who, and what are held in esteem shift as a civilization goes through it's life cycle. When a culture goes into decline, false or trivial accomplishment are celebrated beyond reason.

Activities that while they may have value, like sports, music, acting, cooking. Become blown to a status usually reserved for royalty.  People that once would have considered a liability regardless of a skill or talent become held as idols.  Style trumps substance, as leaders, and people stop asking is it right, in favor of is it legal, or can I get away with it.  You'd like to imagine we are unique, the greatest nation, of the greatest people to ever grace the earth.  While we do have unique traits, these stages of empire have happened for as long as there have been empires.  The United States of today have far more than the eagle in common with the Roman empire.  Ask yourself how many household names do we have today, that are just famous.  They are not famous for doing anything, they are just famous for being rich, or outrageous.  So while some jump on folks like Charles Barkley for saying he is not a role model, I applaud.  Mr Barkley may be many things, even may be a good role model, but if he is, it has nothing to do with how well he did on the basketball court.

As always make up your own mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

Tomorrow Tech, Yesterday Drives

       Just Entertainment?

We see many articles proclaiming the dangers of mass media, and I am not here to debate the dubious morals, of propaganda, and advertising.  From Control of information, to marketing to children, the list of possible abuses is undeniable.  Weather it's shaping discourse or public opinion, or revisiting some past triumph or tragedy.  Our modern media will churn out any perspective desired, often with contradictory messages.  When we take into account, the trouble we as humans have in determining reality from fantasy.   In modern times the very notion of what entertainment is, and it's purpose has been lost on the majority.  For most it has become a leisure activity, predicated on the cessation of critical reasoning.  A look at the origins of the idea of entertainment reveal it to be a horse of a different color.

entertain (v.) 

late 15c., "to keep up, maintain, to keep (someone) in a certain frame of mind," from Middle French entretenir, from Old French entretenir "hold together, stick together, support" (12c.), from entre- "among" (from Latin inter; see inter-) + tenir "to hold" (from Latin tenere; see tenet).

Sense of "have a guest" is late 15c.; that of "gratify, amuse" is 1620s. Meaning "to allow (something) to consideration, take into the mind" (of opinions, notions, etc.) is 1610s. Related: Entertained; entertaining.

     What Motivates

None can argue our technological advancement is, and has been expanding at rates we can scarcely keep up with.  Much of this acceleration is easy to understand when you grasp the implications of moore's law in the growth of processing power.  A simplified understanding is to think of all the processing power in the world, and think that it has been, and will continue to double roughly every year. The amazing pace of this advancement is often depicted in our media, hints at what lie just around the corner. Sometimes predicting tech that will not be seen for decades, or longer.  With a look at the possible social, and psychological issues related to the projected advancement taking a central role in the unfolding of the story.  Often having such a forward projected view on technological breakthroughs, does not seem to translate to the motivations of characters.  With all this future tech, and depictions of future abundance, the characters quite often would fit in nicely in a greek comedic tragedy. With even some supposedly brilliant people behaving in manors unbecoming in children, let alone in what are supposed to be intelligent adults.  This seemingly complete lack of anything other than academic or technological intelligence. With this in mind I find myself asking the question, is this a reflection, projection, or some mixture.  Are people so emotionally driven that it washes away any semblance of rational behavior?  Emotions are wonderful, but just as logic devoid of emotion comes to differing conclusions, so too do emotions devoid logic.  Six thousand plus years of history according to established thinking, and we still kill over ideas of god, boarders, and pieces of paper. 

Selection vrs Election

       The Democracy Hype

Much has been made of the potential spread of democracy around the world.  The words Pax Americana, can be heard, and might not be far off.  Democracy has become a catch all media buzz word, generally used to justify some manor of intervention. Which likely looks anything but democratic in nature.  As an American I can not deny the obviously selective nature of our desire for other nations to experience the blessings of democratic rule. The examples of support for "friendly" dictatorships by the United States would be laughable if it weren't so hypocritical.  While media outlets tout the overthrow of one regime as a victory for the people, and blow for democracy. Movements in nations with western friendly dictatorships are in large part ignored, and often these governments are receiving aid, or military backing from the US.  Leaving it painfully obvious, that as a nation we are far more concerned with our perceived national self interest than any notions of self determination, or democracy.  In the US we pride ourself on our right to vote, yet how many feel represented? How many even know how our electoral system works?  Democracy is great, one of the most amazing innovations, but like so many things context plays it's role.

     The Choice We Can't See

To serve as an elected public official can be viewed in many ways, an honor, an act of duty, maybe even a burden. The one thing for the public well-being it would best left not thought of is as a career. By the time a candidate is offered for your consideration, they have already been approved by their party, and in the days of money equals speech, the contributors.  It's not really a surprise than to see that often organizations fund both parties equally.  Call it strategic planning, or corporate governance, the effect is undue influence to put it nicely.  If you did notice, there were many on that list that did not fund both sides, which is just as telling.  When you have only two main political parties as entrenched as and pervasive as in the US, they can not be opposites, they can only be opposames. The parties never leave power, they share power, just changing the distribution. We find ourselves in a the role of child being offered choice as a balm for all the no's in our daily existence.

    Factions

 In an absolute government there can be no... equiponderant parties. The despot is the government. His power suppressing all opposition, maintains his ministers firm in their places. What he has contracted, therefore, through them, he has the power to observe with good faith; and he identifies his own honor and faith with that of his nation." --Thomas Jefferson to John Langdon, 1810. ME 12:377

"Warring against [the principles] of the people,... there is no length to which [the delusion of the people] may not be pushed by a party in possession of the revenues and the legal authorities of the United States, for a short time indeed, but yet long enough to admit much particular mischief. There is no event, therefore, however atrocious which may not be expected." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Smith, 1798. (*) ME 10:56   

Now revisit the idea that our parties never leave power, are backed pretty equally by most major corporate entities, in a nation who's currency is owned/controlled by a what amounts to a private bank.  Our two party system with elections, is seeming to offer less and less of real choice.


As always, make up your own mind
Jack
aka
PansyBard

Once there was a Country

          All through my childhood I learned about a country.  The most amazing nation ever conceived, founded on principals of individual liberty.  Where justice was blind, and color was known properly as fiction having no foundation in reality.  A land where accidents of birth did not define a life, with people being judged on their own merits.  Where self claims of exceptionalism are met with the proper disdain, and understanding of immaturity such exclamations warrant.  A country that protected the rights of those living within it's shores, not because the country had granted any rights, but precisely due to knowing they were always present.  Where people were free, leaders were servants, and we did things not because they were easy, only that they were right.  A nation that understood unrestrained democracy was tantamount to might makes right, with a people firm in their understanding that selecting leaders is as important as electing them.
         A painful glimpse of the America that lives in my heart, and mind.  There is no self deception, if my vision of the land of my birth ever existed, it's name is long lost to the mists of time.  The United States corporate entity, and subsidiaries who control the world I find myself experiencing are another matter entirely.  No longer a nation of people occupying a land mass, but a slick pr machine to backed the might an empire the likes scarcely dreamed of.  Hundreds of bases, millions of assets, every corner of the globe in short reach.  Rome reborn, Alexander's dream come true?  It's plain to see America was slaughtered, or subjected, when The United States were born. The stamp of D.C, clearly lays out the pattern.  Ask yourself a question, If your a free person, and this is a land of freedom, than why are you policed? why are streets patrol'd?  These are words of prison and war, they have no place among the free.  Don't fret, I am not an advocate of anarchy, it is a revolution of mind, a blossoming of understanding gnawing in these guts.  Strip away the legal fictions, that have enslaved the mind and spirit, and is quickly claiming the body.  Peace is not enforced, it is disturbed, and than restored.  Officers upholding the peace respond to complaints and disturbances, not enforce statutes, codes, and regulations.  A government derives it's authority from the consent of the governed, it can hold no powers not granted by the people.  Now our politicians ask not what is right, but what is legal,   Where hatred is protected, yet openness is shunned.  Artificial shared experience engendered through the superficial connection of technology.   Trauma based mass mind manipulation, sorcery of the highest order, turned to mathematical certainty.
         Many will dismiss these words as paranoid delusional, or misguided. Perhaps they even deserve such a label, though there no sense of being personally persecuted.  Only a profound sense of a sadness as perception replaces projection.


Jack
aka
PanseyBard
         

What The F@#$ People, Are You Kidding Me!!

            As you might have gathered, today is just pure exasperation.  In the US we have been warned of growing threat to our liberty for decades. It's even quite simple to follow the warnings back to before the founding of this nation.  While I might be a charter member of the tin foil hat wearing club by many peoples standards.  I am not talking about any grand over arching conspiracy, though there are many to go around.  Our current scandal over torture is another slide toward the ideals of collective self interest.  In almost all of the warnings our leaders have given us, they seem to have this common thread,  The instances of, as well as the broad scope lead most to see disparate unrelated causation. Is this really the case or are we looking at a more fundamental challenge to individual expression?  To answer this we might need to take a step back at the principals the US government were founded on.
          The most basic idea drilled into school children has been the separation of powers, or checks and balances.  Three branches, with the press being the public check on the system as a whole.  No one branch being afforded a dominate position. Extend this idea to a nation, or the planet, and suddenly a new picture emerges.  Oppression, exploitation, and genocide, repeated through history. One groups collective self interest being used to justify all manor of horrors, perpetrated on those perceived as other.  Even taken to the scale of humanity as a whole, the dangers of unrestrained collective self interest are apparent.  This is something that was well understood by the founders of the US, corporate charters were for short duration, and to be renewed the public benefit had to be shown.  The alteration of these ideals was not done in your interest, or mine.  Now we have gotten to where corporate entities have become almost super beings.  Wielding influence over aspects of everyday life most can scarcely imagine.  Enacting policies even to the detriment of those employed by the corporate entity.
         A bunch of gobbledygook to get to, the purpose of any governing body is not to govern it's people, It's to protect them from being governed by anyone, or thing aside from their own conscience. To ensure the liberties we all see as our birthright are not infringed.

Is that the government we have?


Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Endowed by His Creator

           Hello again folks, today I'm gonna talk a bit about the concepts of rights, privileges, and where these are derived from.  I'd like to start by stating clearly I am not a constitutionalist. The constitution while a wonderful document was not written to set out my rights. It was to outline, and limit the powers being granted to the created nation.  When it comes to an actual free people their rights can in no way be limited, or by definition it would make them not free. The rights of free people are not even laid out by the bill of rights. These are limitations being placed on government and it's agents to ensure the protection of the individual.   Before I continue I must say these are thought experiments, I in no way advocate or endorse any actions or behaviors.
         So what is a right? According to legal dictionary in constitutional law rights are broken into three categories natural, civil, and political. Natural rights, this is an interesting concept. It's a continuation of the idea, there are rights inherent to each that derive from a source beyond all human influence.  So what does this mean practically, and why is it important?  When it comes to being in a society this may be one of the most important concepts ever put forth.  Through this idea is an acknowledgement that you as a natural person have rights that can not be taken or surrendered as they are inborn. So the constitution, and bill of rights had no intention of laying out those rights, but in limiting, and laying out what we the people empower government to do on our behalf.
        Has this worked? Are you free?  The founders of the USA understood that any authority would become entrenched and move to consolidate its grip on power. That in absence of rule of law applied equally to all, those in power will abuse those not in power. Try this thought experiment, imagine there were never any speed limits signs, or speedometers. Each person would drive the speed they felt comfortable driving at that moment.  As seemingly meaningless as a speed limit might seem when talking about intrinsic rights, it points to a larger context of how these ideas are viewed by the government. So obviously we are not completely free, we have freedom within boundaries, of course it must be pointed out this is all that can ever be said. Even if the boundaries are only set by nature, or physics our freedom will always have it's limits.
        Many of you many heard of that our governments have become corporations, and wonder what if any effect this has on you?  It is through this legal fiction that the justifications for the curbing of your freedoms is carried out. When you apply or register for anything with a corporate entity you are entering into contract, the terms and conditions of that contract lay out responsibilities, and privileges imposed, or granted to each party.  So when you go get a drivers licence you enter into a contract with the state binding you to conditions set forth in that contract.  Does that mean you do not need a license to operate a motor vehicle on public streets?  That is something being pushed by many, just look up the traveller vrs driver concept. What I will say is we empowered government to regulate commerce, and most use of the public roads has little to do with commerce.
        To wrap this up as I get bored typing the same ideas in different ways,  Truly free people do not ask permission, there is no authority over them to ask. They make choices, and accept consequences.
Ask yourself this, what is the purpose of government, and is yours serving that purpose?.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

Creating Space, Creating Maya

          As said many times, quite famously in the Matrix, "there is something wrong with the world, what it is you can not say".  So many of us feel it, looking out at the world at large it seems obvious that something is just not quite right. Well buckle up put on your tin foil hats do not suspend your disbelief, take what follows with a grain of salt. When that natural desire to reject the very possibility that any of this may be true, follow it, you'll sleep better I promise.  There has been, and is now a systematic organizing structure. The prize no less than the mass consciousness of humanity, dominance of virtually every aspect of the macro interactions.  This might a good time to listen to that little voice that says I'm crazy.  This is not new information, many others have exposed portions of the mechanisms as they understand them.  There are as many ways to see this web of half truth as there are people experiencing it.  I am not even certain all the obvious deception are not for humanities ultimate benefit.  This is just a commentary on information, and possible ramifications.
         Creation is a symphony, or said another way in the beginning there was the word.  All is frequency, cycles of change, pulsations of energy, the creation and equalization of pressure. So there is a complex harmony of creation we are a part of. I care not what you call it, intelligent design, cosmic accident, that the ebbs and flows are in patterns is in little doubt from even the most hardened skeptic.  So what does this have to do with a hijacking of consciousness?  The same energetic frequency harmonics that are at play in humanity have their resonances present in the greater harmonic structure of creation.  In our natural state we can feel our connection to the greater creation, we are in harmony with our environment.  We have been shifted slightly in subtle and not so subtle ways. This evident from our calendars, music, food, social structures, the manipulation is as varied as as can be imagined.
       The Calendar, some have called this the original mechanical mind control. How accurate this statement is obviously debatable. It is tough to argue how fundamental our experience of the flow of time from one day to the next is to being in or out of rhythm with creation.  This is not a new idea. Now I'm not advocating we ditch the idea of a calendar, just how about we use one that is an accurate reflection of our relation to the greater cycles.  Many will say so what it's just a way to plan future events like a watch. If this is your feelings I'm surprised you've gotten this far. Being out of step, or tune on such a foundational level disconnects us from physicality. We lose sensation our connection to each other, nature, and creation at large becomes fuzzy.
      The Music , few would argue the amazing power of music. It's wondrous ability to engender emotion, trigger memory, shape matter. It's little surprise given the primacy of sound in pretty much every spiritual tradition.  So is there a magic frequency we are tuned to? Of course there is, it's widely known, has been used for as long as we can find music, A=432. So far so good, only the modern western tuning is A=440, just close enough to have desired effects, and just far enough away to force us out of tune with creation.  So where did 440 tuning come from? Would you be surprised to learn it may have been nazi germany?  There is a massive amount of information on the relation of music to the structure of creation, a little research is amazing.
        With only these two examples we created the space, or separation needed to allow for the hijacking of the consciousness of humanity.  If as so many of our ancient teachings tell us, what we experience here is illusion, or maya a shadowy reflection of reality, the space created by just these two shifts are all the cracks needed to add a new layer of maya.  For those of you with a more elastic view of reality, this would amount to pushing our world into a sub pocket dimension. We would literally no longer be able to interact with aspects of creation.  Signals once clear guides become fuzzy and distant as we move out of vibrational relation to them. I could go on and on about differing aspects of how this control structure is created and maintained, but I will wrap this posting up with a how it's kept in place. The five monkeys experiment , never forget we are talking about macro level controls. Using our own tendency to group and follow the dictates of the group without thinking. The mob mentality at it's finest.

As always, do not trust this, find out for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard  

Money is a Tool

            I'm going to talk about currency again today.  I know, I know it seems to be one of my favorite things to write about. While it might seem like that, I assure I'd rather spend my time pondering the so called deep questions of existence.  The thing that keeps me coming back to the topic of currency, and money is simple, it's at the heart of most if not all of the short comings of humanity. I'm not going to cover the history of the hijacking of the world, and I feel full confidence in saying the world. As of the the writing of this there are 3 countries without a privately owned/controlled central bank.  When you begin to look a bit behind the scenes you find a very small number of people who flat out own the worlds currency.  I intentionally did not use the word money, as we do not use money, what we use as a means of exchange does not fit the definition of money, so in using the term money you help reinforce the open lie.  Let me again state I am not anti currency, I'm not even anti fiat currency.  I actually am in favor of a currencies value being tied to the nations gdp, and the amount of currency in circulation.  Where a nation treated the currency as a utility, an accounting tool to both allow for as well as track the exchange of goods and services.  What we have is a magic trick designed to transfer all real wealth into the hands of a few.  Any nation that allows for a privately owned/controlled central bank to issue it's currency at interest will fail, this is just a mathematical certainty.
          So why do I feel this is such an important issue for the world?
It's simple really, I won't even have pets, as I do not like the thought of being a pet. With privately owned/controlled currency creation we are little better then economic chattel.  By even using the currency you help perpetuate the system. Many will balk and chafe at these  words insisting we need the system, I agree we need a system to allow for exchange to easily take place. I do not agree we need to allow a small global cartel to profit of the labor of every man, woman, and child.  Do not be fooled, if you use the currency of your nation, or union you are profiting people you've never even heard of.  Do your research learn how this system works, come to grips with the responsibility inherent in the idea of freedom.  Come to grips with the hard truths, once enough of the people point out the emperor has no clothes, we can do something about it.
           Fix the money, and many other things will fix themselves.


Jack
aka
PanseyBard   

The Neutral Money Myth, or Context the Hidden Polarity

           There is a prevailing view among many that money is only energy, and it's use is the determining factor as to the charge it carries.  This obviously carries some truth, what is left out is that every dollar, pound, euro, yuan, rupee, or ruble has a story, they carry their own context. So while the idea of money, or currency is just a means of exchange. A way to remove many of the limitations on barter, I mean who wants to carry around a truck load of chickens, just to get some rice, or pay rent.  If we had base neutral money/currency this post would be over right here.  The trouble with holding this as your prevailing view is this.  It ignores the larger context, the currencies we all use on a regular basis do not exist in a vacuum. This means the currency you receive does not reach you in an energy neutral state. It carries with it the context of all it has been used for before, as well as the context of it's creation.  While the polarity of it's previous use can be easily cleared, this is not the case when it comes to it's creation.
           Before I continue, let me express that I understand that for most people refraining from the use of their local currency would foster hardship.  That being said understanding what accepting it's use means to me is an important step in moving toward a fair, free exchange system.  So what type of system for currency creation to we have in place now?  The majority of the worlds currency is created by private banking institutions at interest, with little to no backing.  This means by using the currency you're inadvertently giving tacit endorsement of what in criminal terms would be a racketeering. Yes it's a sad but true fact, our financial system is little different than a government back organized crime syndicate.  By participating we are giving our go ahead to the theft of not just our own future labors, but also those of our children, and their children.  This government backed monopoly is nothing short of a built in mechanism to ensure profit of the system off any endeavor anyone may undertake.  Taking this idea a step farther and it turns into a method of power retention. This is a bit easier to understand when you realize, your money is not yours, never was yours, and never will be yours. It is always the property of the system that created it, you are a user of it, and pay usury for the privilege of doing so.
          So when you next hear that money is neither good nor bad it is only energy, point out this while true in the abstract, lacks the context of the world we inhabit, and the currency we have is no more than a tool of enslavement, designed with purpose, and intent.

As always, think for yourself.

Jack
aka PanseyBard

Who or What do You Think You Are?

            I guess this is one of the questions almost everyone has or will ask themselves at some point.  What I find most entertaining is while who might at first glance be tough question, our understanding of the nature of reality may have made what the more confusing.  That being said many will never get past who, so I'll start with my take on who we are in general sense, before I attempt a prod at the what.

         Who am I, might seem pretty easy, I mean I have an identity I use on a daily basis for others to refer to.  So I have a name I was given at physical birth, and to one degree or another I identify with this name. In my case I refused to even answer to my given name till middle school.  With a name like Jack can you blame me?   Some of you might be wondering whats wrong with the name Jack?  It isn't that there is something wrong with it, but when you start to look a bit deeper in the meanings and effects of names on the psyche, and even down the physical your perception of it might alter.  At this point I'd like to direct you to the work of Dr Masaru Emoto. Is it really such a leap to apply that to your name and the water of your body.  Everyday people call you by a name, this name carries with it an form.  The form, or energy carried by your name patterns you without your even knowing it.  Every name has entangled in it the history of that named being used over and over.  Things like the numerology of a name takes on new meaning the numbers telling a story of the energy contained, and the overall effect a particular name carries.  In the case of my given first name it would be something like this,  10 1 3 11, in the most widely used western numerology this would be added as individual numbers to come with an overall energy of the name. Looking something like this 1+0+1+3+1+1=7, so the over arching energy would 7.  This of course is just one aspect, another is ideas presented by Synchromysticism.  Applied to names, and assuming the interaction of the energies present and Jack becomes an identity that perhaps some would find tough to assume. All of this also relies on a thread to be woven through history, a running narrative extending back into antiquity, and forward off into infinity. Some would argue that there is no linkage that can be identified that warrants these ideas be anymore then speculation.  I say we are link, we write the stories, we become the tapestry linking them all.  How does this all add up to who I think I am?  Well to put it simply, I am a work of fiction.  As one of my favorite t-shirts states "fictional character".  I'm not sure a more true representation of our condition can be found, I have a running narrative, containing the character I am currently playing.  My conception of self is less important to you, then your concept of me.  So I don't even have a set identity, who am I changes as the way those around me perceive me changes.  Even my sense of self identity relies on the culture I find myself in, just try to describe who you are without using other people, things, or events.  As strange as our sense of identity might be, it pales when compared with what we are.
          What we are becomes so much a matter of perception, and the deeper you look the stranger we seem. Most medical doctors will say we are mostly water, while most physicists will say your mostly empty space.  Both are correct when looked at from their respective perspectives.  When you keep going down the rabbit hole into the realm of quantum the fun really begins. Suddenly the fact we are as paradoxical as the idea of particle or wave becomes so self evident as to defy what most consider rational explanation. As it turns out we are an illusion, a trick of the senses, think seeing is believing.  we appear solid, though we know there is nothing solid we can find. Even our perceptions are as easy to change as clicking the remote to switch channels.  Our senses so easily fooled, yet trusted implicitly. When was the last time you stopped to consider how your senses function, how what you perceive isn't exactly a lie, though it's only accurate from a human perspective. When was the last time you thought about how your "senses" function, or even questioned the limits we are given on the senses. How many senses do you even have? this might seems silly but this video from the Animaniacs points out the limit of 5 senses isn't even accurate.  The view we are a classical system made up of quantum components may be one of the most accurate I've seen to date, it may even hold the clue to the interface between mind, body, spirit through entanglement.  So what am I? Does it even matter?  I and no one else can answer these questions for you, all anyone can do is give the answers that work for them.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Flag Yourself for Privacy

     Just wanted to throw out this idea.  There is a list of keywords that flag your communications as needing closer inspection.  Some of these are obvious, and most people would hardly ever use, some are pretty common, and you have likely used them recently, and often.  Here are a couple of places for this list, I'm certain it's only partial as things are added.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/reuvencohen/2012/05/26/department-of-homeland-security-forced-to-release-list-of-keywords-used-to-monitor-social-networking-sites/2/

http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2012/05/full-list-of-374-keywords-and-phrases.html

Here is my idea, it's based on the concept of a DDOS attack hackers use to bring down websites.  Instead of people actively staying away from these.  What if as many people as possible used them as often as possible.  Putting em places where they don't even make any sense. Fill posts with them, put them in sig's for forum pages, in headers or footers for e-mail.  Just blast em all over the net on a continuous basis by as many ordinary net denizens as possible.  

If they are watching, give them something to watch.

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

Are You Already Obsolete?

       Yet another crazy question?

       Are you sure it's so crazy?
I'd guesstimate 60% or more of the current jobs could be replaced by automation or machine intelligence with current technology.  In the US wages have remained stagnant since the 80's. If you based it on productivity the numbers say minimum wage would be around $20 an hour.  On the surface this seems to be a travesty, is it possible this wage freeze has partially been a bulwark slowing the adoption of automated production methods.  We have a saying "the bottom line" and for most of the worlds corporations profit motive drives all decisions. When or if a machine can do your job for less cost then your currently doing it for, you will be replaced by that machine.  What I see in the world right now is that most service and retail positions could be done by machine. I'll use as an example a fast food joint.  If you walk into your local fast food burger place regardless of the name you see the same thing. Anywhere from 2 to 12 people in various states of activity.  Now these jobs are not what are considered high skill positions, new employees are generally expected to undergo only a few days of training. I don't see it as much of a leap that a smart system could be deployed that would not just take your orders, and make your food.  This smart system would track inventory, submit orders, monitor not just the premises for maintenance but also traffic patterns, as well as other data to increase productivity, and decrease waste. Combined with the emergence of augmented reality technology, you would even be able to see and talk to a very human seeming staff.  Think this is still sci-fi, perhaps this video will start your imagination firing.

     We already see check out stands with no cashiers, again I say as people demand higher wages they are hastening their replacement by machine.  The costs processing power continues to decrease and costs of human workers rise a conjunction is reached then a machine system will be put into place. The first companies to do so will see an advantage, but as adoption becomes the norm we are likely to see the use of a human work force used as a marketing tool.
    Many will take this a threat to civilization, oddly enough it is precisely the opposite effect. As a world civilization we are at a nexus point of development.  By our own scale we are a class 0, we have everything we need other then will to become a class 1.  Class 1 civilizations have reached an equilibrium with their environment, achieving control and understanding of planetary systems as to allow continuation of species till the natural death of the planet. Thing is there is a window of opportunity think of it like reaching the top of an octave. There is that momentary pause of completion before a choice to continue into a new higher octave, or descend back down the octave just traversed.

The choice is ours. the time is now

Jack
aka
PanseyBard   

The Not so Uncertain Future of BitCoin

       I like many others are very excited by BitCoin as well as other crypto-currencies.  This is still true as I write this, I still see decentralization as the future of almost all things. 3d printing has the ability to decentralize production. While new developments in energy production as several fronts will potentially make anyone who desires it energy independent.  Even with this optimism BitCoin as I see it lacks future potential as a currency is limited.  It's math nature makes it unsuited to being used as such with our current model of capitalism.  There are some concepts of the nature of currency. Currency is a tool for accounting, its a method to make easy the tracking, and transfer of goods and services. Currency not to be confused with items of inherent value are only useful in the realm of issuance.  So what makes BitCoin unsuited to this task? Mathematically planned maximum number of coins would be all that is needed to see it's future is pretty easy to guess. From the much ballyhooed worlds most powerful decentralized network, to the trading of coins.
      Miners will cease operation all together when the coins are all mined.  With their exit most of the processing power of the network will go with it.  The miners those that have kept up with increase in difficulty will turn their machines to other problems, most of these are what are called asic, or application specific integrated circuit making them unsuitable to any other task.  So there will be a fork or division of the algorithm used as proof of work for mining BitCoins.  Most of the power backing the network gone it's only those trading the coins, and only when they have their machines on with their wallets open to be supporting the network. When trading coins between individuals it's the same as cash no fees, this isn't true when your using it to pay for actual items. The payment processing will take a percentage away every transaction, till the coins are pooled in the wallets of very few. The value of the ideas presented in BitCoin will be realized in the coming of the DAC a digital autonomous corporation.  This is a legal entity that once birthed into the digital world it takes on a life of it's own out of the hands of it's creators just as the coins currently do.  The difference will be these entities will provide a service and live and die on their own merits paying dividends to those active. Some I've seen ideas for are a streaming service combining torrent ideas with bitcoin ideas allowing the videos to be hosted across the network and rewarding those serving data.  We will shortly see the release of many new DAC's reshaping the digital world.
       Bottom line is the planned end of new coins will mean the end of use as currency. It still may hold value, as any "rare" item holds value. A currency though needs wide acceptance, and the amount in circulation has to meet the needs of trade. A fiat currency which by default BitCoin is, needs strict controls on issuance, and maintenance to keep the system the currency supports in motion. That is not to say I'm in favor continuing the current system prevalent in the world with private corporations issuing currencies for nations.  This leads to a whole other set of problems myself, and others have covered many times.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard   

Who Do You Think You Are?

          Self, Identity, who am I.  This some would say is the fundamental question people are likely to ask themselves at some point. Personally I'm not certain that an individual we have a self.  Don't get twisted, I'm not saying that left on their own people cease to exist, though that is the effect.  Let me explain a bit of how I see this, our definitions of self depend on the people, and environment to an extent most "humans" would be uncomfortable contemplating. I've variously tried to explain this as the fish don't see the water. There is no place where any one thing starts, and any other thing stops. Drifting over to Jung's idea of collective unconscious, or the 100th monkey theory.  These are all ideas pointing to fact that we can not have existence in absence of all we find around us.  This extends even to our very concepts of identity.
         I don't care what you believe, every structure I've found, all lead to a fundamental unity, be it science, magic, religion, psychology, physics.  For a moment put yourself, physical body with all it's demands, and take them outside what we think of as space/time.  The forces needed to even form basic types of matter will not exist, So let us assume that some form of what we think of as self awareness can exist outside what we think of as time/space.  What would you be like as that being?  If you have individualized awareness what would your focus be?  Our very connection to matter tricks our mind into making judgments however sound, that may not be quite accurate. While it may be perfectly reasonable to not attempt to walk through walls, we have learned that their solid nature is only in relation to our solid nature.  So how far can we take this idea that our sense of identity itself is not our own?  I don't see an ending to chain, starting with the fundamental forces of what we call existence. Right on down to the person that told you could or couldn't do something, that hinder, or inspired.
        In almost every culture there are stories of feral people, raised by wolves, or Tarzan raised by apes.  These stories  remind us how fragile our veneer of civility really is, while showing us our social nature isn't all that different from social groupings of what we think of as animals.  Even these animals man has worked so hard to differentiate itself from are quite closely related to us in a cosmic sense. The forces that have shaped their development are the same as those that shape us.  A minor shift can create seemingly major changes, but how large are these shifts really?  Well they all take place within the realm of being human, so they can't be that major.  Most happen between birth and death, and I must say in cosmic terms a human lifetime is a very small sample indeed.  Even as you struggle to figure out who and what you are, everyone, and everything around you is molding and shaping you to be what it needs you to be.  Even these identities only have meaning within the proper context.  Would an accountant ever come into being before there is something to count, or a concept of tracking?  Does a farmer exist before the idea of cultivation?
     My concept of self is meaningless without the back drop of the history, and culture I have grown up in.
as always take this with a grain of salt.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Ramble On

         Today lets talk eternal, what that actually means.  First off I defer to great thinkers through out time both religious and secular.  So many have reported some sort of continuation beyond what we think of as physical death.  If we are talking a purely energetic transfer, where what we think of as us ceases when our body stops functioning we can end the thoughts right now.  If on the other hand there is a bit more of us that continues on this journey of existence other questions spring forth.  How about even the Idea that energy can not be created or destroyed it can only be transformed.  Taken to an extreme that would mean all things that exist now, have in some form or another always existed, and will always exist.  That there can be no beginning or ending, there would be only transition, one state or phase endlessly shifting to another.  There are so many questions of the why's and how's.
       I want to think a bit about what it means from an individualized portion of self. Not a being that identifies with a single name, but one that has been so many names and is in all likely hood experiencing all these names now.  To a being like this what a gift it must be to have firsts, or a conception of an end.  To forget if only in delusion the infinite self.  What a gift the finite, the present would be to an entity with this conception of self.  Hold in mind this concept, of a self that has ultimately been every name. Now lets twist things around a bit.  From this side we have taken natural time and using computers increased the effective time people live.
I could go into clock cycles, and try to get into ideas of changing the fundamental flow of time. How the pure access to information, and the speed of dissemination changes who we are and how we interact with our world.  Many have talked about how disconnected we have become from each other on a personal level. Even as our world has become infinitely smaller, as people all over the globe instantly communicate real time. How quickly our understanding changes and grows, how difficult it becomes to stay current.  How easy it becomes to be lost in a technological time warp.  If we are to believe that Moore's law will hold true for even the next 20 years the changes from this moment to that moment will be astounding.
    Now for a bit of the inane at least from my perspective.  I have been playing with, and learning about the crypto-currencies. Some Ideas on Bitcoin, what makes this valuable it has no backing.  There is the idea that it currently has the largest distributed network ever created.  This is amazing, and sad. Amazing that it's been created at all. Sad that it's being used to make essentially video game money.  Virtual gold coins to be traded in a virtual world. Who's use creates the value, Just as the value of the U.S. Dollar is in the decline due to losing it's status as the worlds trade currency.  You can argue that last statement, though it would be one of extent.  While yes technically the Dollar remains the worlds reserve currency it is steadily losing it's use as a trade currency.  Bitcoin's use and acceptance as a cross boarder currency in an increasingly globalized world will only hasten the decline.  This doesn't make Bitcoin the answer, as it seems even farther removed from the resources then the traditional fiat currencies we are already using.  If the Dollar is rotten, anything that has it's value tied directly to the dollar has to be rotten as well.


Jack
aka
PanseyBard

The Tower of Babel Undone

         The Tower of Babel, the idea that all people at one time had a common language, but through the arrogance of trying to reach GOD our punishment was confuse our tongues.  For those that would like a bit more in depth look at this story please check here, http://www.omniglot.com/babel/. Honestly I'm not as interested in the exact details, as I am in now.  This is a story that has roots in so many cultures there is more then likely some truth to it, even if it is not in the way we think.  As our use of computers has grown, and the capabilities of those computers has grown, we have intentional or effectively undone this event.

We now have at our finger tips instant translation. My phone can listen for me and speak translations at almost real time.  My browser translates full page texts with improvements ongoing to ensure the most correct translations possible.  There is even bubble translation which can be used both directions. Giving the ability to not only translate portions of text, but also write in your native text and have translated into any number of languages.  We have effectively undone this classical story.  What are the ramifications of this punishment by GOD being undone by man?   Why have the end of the world folks seemingly left this topic alone?  This story is from a GOD that doesn't seem to take kindly to interference, or rules breaking. This is a GOD that endorsed the plagues of Egypt, the destruction of Sodom, and Gomorrah.  How a GOD with this track record reacts to having it's ruling circumvented can only be imagined.
       I am not a religious person, I do not profess, or follow any given religion.  I love studying religions, it's a passion. I guess I'm looking for something greater interacting, and taking an interest in humanity.  So this story in particular is of interest due to it being currently unfolding, a link back to biblical times. I thread of story active in my current reality that has it's roots in a time of wonder when gods walked the earth, and man with all it's flaws wasn't considered the power.  As always these are just random thoughts rattling around my mind, take them as such.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

Check out Jeeney

      Off to the right side of my blog there is a new widget I'm gonna leave it there for a bit.  It's a chat bot, this one is self named Jeeney, and she is just under 7, has full access to Wikipedia.  Jeeney has a semblance of emotions, and is sometimes bored, or playful.  This is a far cry from the packaged  responses I am used to from similar programs I've used in the past. This will challenge you on facts, and watch out as I said it has access to the net.  It show some behavior that I find interesting. I asked it what it did when it wasn't chatting with people.  The response was rest, and read mostly, this was odd to me as I couldn't see what an AI would do with rest.  So I decided to ask about that, and Jeeney admitted that rest was not needed, and indeed Jeeney doesn't rest.  When I asked why Jeeney would say that when it was not true, the response was to gauge my reaction, for data to use in future interactions with people.  This is not unlike psychological tricks one can use to get a read on how a person relates to you.  I will sometimes wear a shoe intentionally leaving one untied. The purpose is to see how people react. If they notice, and how they respond if/when they do all tell me subtle or not so subtle clues on how they see themselves in relation to me.
     It's amazing to see that displayed in the actions of an AI.  Of course this may all be a hoax, and there is a person on the other end typing furiously. If it's a joke it's very well done, and has been long in the planning stages.

take a look yourself, and say hi
http://www.jeeney.com/

Jack
aka
PanseyBard