COSPLAY is the spawn of the inward mind's gaming experience echoing into life. I LIKE this spirit! As I aim to maintain it very much so myself. I think that playing out our minds, our happiness, and our voices at a young age is quite advisable. As young persons are typically beautiful, and sexually developing; each themselves, it is fine that this cosplay form allows players to get their feelings right honestly out; and to try on any roles freely and face only the good natured criticism of peers of all stripe.
COSPLAY: RECIPE FOR NONCONFORMITY AND
SELF RELIANCE AND FAIRPLAY.
SELF RELIANCE AND FAIRPLAY.
It has long been clear to me that misplaced fears have held many people back by cultural constraints from healthy sexual development; that are unsupportable in the modern world we live in. These harvested cosplay images below that I have borrowed to illustrate this blog post, are indicative of young people learning to make their own decisions about friends, attire and their own sexualities is a very healthy and mostly safe manner. As a painter who has painted mainly young women as a long career, I see that typically young women may boom into amazing grace and physical beauty as they emerge from adolescent puberty. But this is only a point on the spectrum of a female person's whole life of changing physicality. Cosplay allows young women to have increased power in this chronological point in their life earned by something INCLUDING their own sexuality; but not DEPENDING solely upon that sexuality in the same exclusive way as was practically required of women in past times.
More
On Civil Disobedience
By Comic Book
Shaman
Chapter
3 part one of two
To
Consider all Aspects of Objects,
of
People, of Events and of Situations
195
Inappropriate
Lecture
I
was experiencing this accelerated mania on the day I got to teach the fifth
grade class. If I had stuck to the lesson plan it probably would have been
okay, but rather than simply give the kids the project and let it occupy them,
I improvised a little lecture about language and learning, and in my enthusiasm
uttered one or two words that were inappropriate. Apologizing I asked the class
to write down the inappropriate words I had spoken, and collected the papers.
The teacher sat in the back of the room and shook her head, and I saw the
entire project slipping away from me. I might have saved things yet if I had
carried through with the lesson, but I panicked and ran.
196
Stupid
or Crazy?
The
next day I went back and Siro informed me that he couldn’t use me any more. I
had expected this, and although it hurt I knew I had to accept it. Sadly Siro
tried to give me a check for the lessons I had performed, and it offended me so
deeply that instead of getting on my bike and riding away I sat down in the
grass and refused to leave. The policeman asked me whether I wanted to go to
jail or the mental health. I wasn’t afraid of jail, I hadn’t done anything
wrong, but it was a Friday, and I probably wouldn’t see the judge until Monday.
The mental health was a big unknown. Terry had told me all about it, and had
sternly warned me not to sign anything. “The door is open,” he would stress
over and over again. The cops took me to the Crisis Center, and refused to
believe that I had never been there before. I refused to sign their permission
to treat form for a long time, but I was frightened and confused and hungry and
I wanted a cigarette, so I finally signed to get out of there. They told me to
go to the hospital to see a doctor for a prescription within the week or the
constables would come and get me.
197
A
Bitter Pill
Sandy
came and got me out, and she tried to reassure me that it was no big deal, but I
was emotionally torn. For some reason I was deeply attached to my perceived
sanity. I was ashamed and offended and refused to consider any sort of
treatment. My week ran out and they came and took me away. Once incarcerated I
realized that I had to co-operate if I wanted to regain my freedom. I allowed
them to treat me with Lithium because I was satisfied that it couldn’t hurt me.
I was, and am still less than satisfied with the safety of the various
anti-psychotic drugs they prescribed for me, but I reasoned that the doses were
so small they may not be dangerous.
198
Initial
Incarceration
The
day after I arrived at the Mental Hospital the Feds pulled their raid on Mt.
Carmel, up near Waco. The enormity of the raid itself, let alone the horrendous
results of the fire, was enough to reassure me of the moral bankruptcy of our
federal government. There are simply no limits to its depravity, and no hope of
effectively reforming it within its present structure. I believe I am a
patriot, after all in many nations in the world I would be locked up or shot
for holding and expressing my beliefs. I understand and revere my freedom and
recognize from whence it came. It was with great despair that I sat
incarcerated, seeing my life and my country disintegrating before my eyes. But
if there’s anything I know how to do its how to go with the flow, and by
accepting my diagnosis of being BI Polar, and promising to take my medicine I
was eventually released.
199
Turned
Out
Meanwhile
Sandy had freaked out and didn’t trust me anymore. She contacted my parents,
who came and moved all my possessions out of the apartment and back to San
Antonio. Leaving Houston ended a period of unparalleled happiness and
creativity for me, and without the patient support of my parents I would have
surely sunk into depression. Not that I wasn’t plenty depressed by
developments, but with a little help from my friends I was at least distracted,
and set out to pursue my interests.
200
Fun
With Language
At
first I primarily pursued my interest in language. Not in learning other
languages, but studying the nature of language, and other languages in relation
to the English language. Mainly by translating certain English vocabulary words
into other languages. I found that sub-consciously, in my elevated mental
state, I could understand a good deal of languages I had no conscious knowledge
of. I discovered that if you translate most any random group of words, using
say, an English/Russian, Russian/English dictionary, The words tend to take a
different turn in meaning in Russian than they had in English. These
differences may be subtle or not so subtle, but they are always humorous. A
collection of various language dictionaries is a valuable resource to anyone
interested in writing jokes or comedy, and who practice the method I described.
I longed to rekindle my interest in comic books, but in 1993 there was
practically nothing being published I cared to read. Love and Rockets by Los
Bros. Hernandez and Russ Cochran’s EC reprints were the only books worth reading
that I could find on the stands. Fortunately my old friend Bill welcomed me
back, and was always ready to let me bend his ear.
201
I
Lost My Spirit
I
found that I had lost my spirit. The intangible force that propelled me had
dissipated, leaving me a practically worthless man. The strong attachment I
held to my perceived sanity, and the perception that undergoing treatment
somehow diminished this sanity upset my practice entirely. All the outward
aspects of meditation and personal practices went on as always, but my spirit
no longer buoyed my actions and perceptions. I cast about for a spell that
would regain me my spirit. I reasoned that it had to come from my Art, so I
began to simply park my truck in various places and put out my paintings to be
viewed by drivers passing by in traffic.
202
Roadside
Gallery
My
intention was that people should see my work. I was not concerned with selling
my paintings, in fact I regret the few I had sold up to this point. I perceived
that my paintings were more valuable to me as an assembled body of work. The
trick would be to stage an exhibition. Curiously I have never attempted to
interest a gallery in my work. I am repelled by the idea of asking someone else
to assume a financial interest in my paintings. What I desire is that galleries
should come to me seeking a financial interest in my paintings. Perhaps a
strange and unlikely to be fulfilled desire for an invisible man.
203
Folk
Art
My
paintings are very valuable, and their value is inherent. Not because I painted
them, but because someone painted them, and they contain a level of thought and
emotion and proficiency that they may speak to a person and impart their value.
It is difficult to assign a dollar value to them, except to set the price at a
level that is significant to my circumstances, so that parting with a painting
is worthwhile.
204
Subsistence
Resolution
I
understood perfectly well that showing my Art on the side of the road is
unlikely to attract the attention of a wealthy patron, such as one might hope to
find in a gallery. I was nevertheless, more concerned that large numbers of
people view my work, and getting feedback is at least as valuable to me as are
sales. I resolved to work at a mundane job to support myself, and continue with
my Art at whatever level I am able to manage.
205
Nick
By
this time I had befriended a buddy of Bill’s from Johnson City, TX, named Nick
Martin. Nick was a burley, bearded, bear of a biker. Formidable in appearance
but with a heart of gold, he often invited me up to his ranch, and always made
me feel at home. When his new old lady and her children moved in, I became
close to the whole family and attached to the children. I was taken with Nick’s
contradictory appearance and personality, and persuaded him to pose for a painting.
During this time I conceived an Arts Festival celebrating all the lively arts,
and focusing on dance and human development. This festival required a great
deal of space for various stages and facilities. God knows where I planned to
get the money to pay for it but I had a scheme that appealed to Nick when I
told it to him, and he consented to hold it on his ranch, and Bill agreed to
maintain the financial end. I called the festival Ghostdance 96, a title that
would prove ironic.
207
Summer
of a Lifetime
I
went to work for a temp agency doing carpentry work, largely for various
grocery chains. I appreciated temporary work because it allowed me freedom to
take time off when I felt it was necessary. One job took me to Houston
occasionally where I renewed old friendships. In getting back in touch with
Rick Rodriguez, he told me that he and his wife, Rene, wanted to offer his
Galveston beach house to me for a month or so. I took him up on it immediately
and packed up my truck with Art and supplies, and set out for Galveston. I
contacted the Urquieta’s and arranged to do some improvements to their house on
a part time basis. Working for them in Houston Friday through Sunday, and
relaxing and painting Monday through Thursday. As I had been working regularly
for some time, and still resented the daily medication and monthly degradation
of the Public Health, I was careless and scornful of it. Embracing denial I
built a magical dream house of Art there in Galveston, and entitled it Weekdays.
I painted a small sign and set it out in the street to invite the brave to
observe Art, books and beads within, on weekdays. I was blissfully manic.
208
Galveston
The
first week I set out to write a comic book explaining my concept of the
Ghostdance. Its eventual completion was a work of perfect expression of mania.
It is the precursor of this book, and seeks to convey much the same thing at a
higher level. I also set out to talk with as many people as I could, and to
photograph as many skaters, surfers, tattoos and pretty girls as I decently
could. I picked out my favorite jetty and made it my church, which I decorated
with washed up debris, artfully arranged, with a cross of driftwood lashed with
plastic six pack holders. I went there to meditate and pray every morning and
night. I visited tattoo parlors and Art galleries and developed favorite haunts
and restaurants. On Friday I went to the Urquieta’s and performed my work
satisfactorily, if somewhat lackadaisically. By this time my personality was at
best somewhat obnoxious. I stopped taking my medicine, and resolved to be
through with it.
209
Spirit
Totems
The
second week I continued. I had a number of objects with me, sticks and stones
and the like, of interesting character, that I had picked up on Nick’s ranch
and at the beach. I painted and decorated them with animal skins and feathers,
beads, tokens and objects of various descriptions that convey some meaning. I
thought of these objects as spells, or Indian books. I have studied and admired
indigenous cultures throughout my life. I was born in Indiana; I am a Native
American. I am not however of an indigenous culture in the sense that I use the
term “Indian.” If I have learned and practice certain aspects of Indian
culture, I still have no claim to tribal rights maintained by Indian nations.
However my tribe is the hippie nation, and we are like the stars in the sky, in
our numbers and in the aspirations of my people. My Indian Books are like open,
decorated and displayed medicine bags. A collection of seemingly meaningless objects
that hold meaning to their owners. Each object representing some dharma that
upholds her spirit. They are a means of organizing and storing vast information
of the mind without words, writing, pictures or computers. Each piece contains
the spirit of the object, stick or stone, the spirit of the animals who gave
their skin or feathers, the spirit of the paint and the decorations all
combines with the spirit of the artist to create an object that contains this
spirit. Only an understanding of the spirit or affinity for it can bring
appreciation of such objects or give them value.
210
Practical
Aspiration
I
don’t want to be in the business of mass producing cool objects, rather I wish
to produce cool objects in a personal, invested manner. I perceive the market
for my Art as quite large, if I can only reach it. It is certainly larger than
I could service producing at full tilt boogie. I require only space, time and
peace to produce volumes of Artwork, but I have produced so much that storing
it is a problem. My Indian Books were a solution to bulky paintings by being
compact and easy to maintain.
211
Misbehavior
By
the third week my mania had accelerated to an oppressive level. My
concentration and practice were greatly diminished, and I ate and slept erratically.
I couldn’t sit still or focus on my Art, or running the gallery or working for
the Urquieta’s. I was oppressively tired all of the time and spent countless
hours walking in either the Montrose or in Galveston, befriending the homeless,
observing the normal population and tourists, and experiencing a particular
perspective that painted me as beautiful and repellant simultaneously. Most of
the friends I made in my first week in Galveston I burned out by the third. I
became exhausted and had neither the energy nor the spirit to complete my work
for my patrons, and I misbehaved so that they dismissed me and no longer loved
my company. I was fucked up.
212
Un-Psychic
I
digress at this point to describe a practice I developed that I call Un-Psychic
readings. I developed this technique through long association with all sorts of
people, and a lifelong pursuit of literature. Anyone who has read a thousand
books may certainly perform this service by their acquired knowledge of human
experience and human nature. I talk to the subject conversationally about her
concerns for perhaps five minutes. I ask a number of specific questions
regarding any pertinent means, emotions or relationships. With this data one
may assemble a 75-90% complete picture of her situation, and can pronounce
insights to her life that she may find cathartic. There is nothing really
psychic about it; I just know how to do it. I began this practice at a young
age and perfected it during my positive manic period in the Montrose. It is an
amusing parlor trick that many foist off as psychic deviation.
213
Really
Hammered
After
the third week I was doing this un-psychic reading constantly, to everyone.
Without my little job with the Urquieta’s I had no income and resorted to
hustling my few odd possessions, and asking my parents for a little bread. I
realized I had a problem and attempted to get back with my medicine. I decided
that what I needed was a little time alone in the woods, so I took off for
Nick’s ranch. I was in a mental state akin to being on pure LSD, and I was
flying higher than ever in my life. When I stopped at an isolated gas station
off of I-10 west of Houston I was spotted by some local law enforcement
officers, and taken into custody. Fortunately I had long since smoked up all my
dope, so I was unafraid and co-operated entirely.
214
Busted
They
took me to their county lock up at about 10 PM and cleared out the front tank,
gave me a blanket and locked me up. I had suspended my concern about time. For
it was beyond my power to control my situation. I folded my blanket and sat
down on the concrete floor. I sat for some hours, and observed my mind as it
incessantly ran down the minutia of my life and the past two weeks. After a
while I got up and swept all the dust in the cell into the drain. I devised a
musical scheme of the sounds made by the hot and cold water dispenser. I slept
a little, and in all passed the most pleasant night in recent memory.
215
Yoko
Eased My Pain
In
the morning they came and led me into the general population area of the jail.
As they led me to a small isolation type holding cell, someone approached me
and sprayed something into my eyes. It burned like pepper spray, and they gave
me a towel and shoved me into the cell. I thought of Yoko Ono. I saw her face
and she told me there was water in the drain, and I soaked it up into the towel
and bathed my eyes until the pain receded. I waited and after a time they
brought me some food. Finally they opened the door and told me they were taking
me to the Austin State Hospital. They wrapped me in chains, every kind of way
to restrict my movement. They put me in the back of a cruiser and drove me to
Austin, where they collected my chains and turned me over to a young lady at
the admissions desk. The A.S.H. was like a vacation. It provided an open
campus, frequent opportunities to go outside and smoke, and competent doctors
and staff. They got my records and stabilized me on my medicine in just a few
days. My parents came and got me out, and the next day I was on a bus back to Galveston.
216
No
Easy Lay
I
can’t explain the following events without being completely frank about my
sexual preferences. I have remained celibate since 1989. Never in that time
have I been tempted to break my celibacy, because no woman I wanted has wanted
me in return. I define my celibacy as abstaining from vaginal penetration with
my penis. Beyond that I am open to such human interaction as comes my way. In
my life I have known any number of girls and women whom I befriended and
analyzed at various levels. As a young man in Florida I experimented with
sponging off lonely women for fun and profit. Many artists are faced with this
aspect of life, and find subsistence there. But I conceived that sex has
meaning, and I only wanted it with someone I cared about and who cared for me
back. Not that my standards are so high, but I have to be at least interested,
and she has to be willing. Sadly in my life I passed up most of the willing
women I have met because I was busy trying to coerce the one I was after.
217
A
Monk
As
I am living as a monk, it is natural that I feel compassion, and listen to
people who have problems that no one will listen to. The homeless, runaways,
prostitutes, junkies, oddballs, religious fanatics, pimps and pushers all have
their stories, and will tell them to you in minute detail if you take the time
to listen. Listening isn’t painful because it’s all new, and by listening we
can give dignity to a person who may receive precious little in her life. I
have befriended many young girls and provided them with a little food and
company, a safe place to crash, and even a little instruction in Art and Art
appreciation, meditation techniques or whatever dharma was appropriate to their
situation.
218
Naked
and Free
In
return I received a fair amount of hugging and squeezing, massages, nakedness
and exchanged body heat on cold nights. I was regaled with horrors of human
depravity and inspired by the courage of these young women, who only want a
chance to be free. The essential non-sexual nature of our interactions was
entirely understood and appreciated by both parties. My intention in these
interactions is to provide a positive male role model to young girls, who badly
need one, so that they have one man in their lives who didn’t screw them. So my
preference is to interact as freely as possible with naked young girls. Their
bodies please me enormously, and their hungry young minds excite me and we may
innocently and properly interact in infinite manners, to the detriment of no
one and to the benefit of all concerned. But I am only a monk, not a saint, and
I don’t particularly care to hear another person’s complaints incessantly. My
experience with people, but especially women, is that they are obsessed with
their problems and express them endlessly. As this arises in my relationships
my benevolence evaporates and my friends move on.
219
Walks
on Shells
I
was sitting in church one sunny afternoon and I observed some girls walking
down to the jetty, which is composed partially of massive stones containing
fossilized seashells, which are quite uncomfortable to walk across barefooted.
Two of the girls walked gingerly across to the smoother stones, but one girl
didn’t change her stride as she walked across the shells. She appeared to be
about fifteen years old, and I conceived her as a symbol of the strength and
power of all such young girls and named her Walks on Shells. Walks on Shells
are a fully formed personality, intent on intellectual self-improvement. She is
competent and intent on learning about, and accomplishing tasks that she
undertakes. She is recognized for her abilities, respected for her activities
and trusted for her character. She has the power of a young woman that I
conceive she should keep for herself rather than abandon to ill-considered
actions or self-objectification.
220
Girl
Power
I
think of Walks on Shells as a Girl Mind Scouts sort of operation that would
promote mentor relationships for girls aged 14 to 16, in which they can
participate in actual ventures and receive commensurate compensation. The point
being to give status for achievement to a group who presently receive such
status mainly by their appearance or sexual function. I have deduced that
shoring up this small segment of the population just so will have a
rejuvenating effect on our whole society. Are you Walks on Shells? In my manic
condition I contemplate broadly and deeply, and connections branch out in webs,
and I realized that if I could attract, captivate and empower a section of the
population of Walks on Shells’ demographics it would generate enough power to
propel my operations.
221
Childhood
Heroes
My
assumption is that everyone is an artist, and for each individual developing
their Art is the surest means to prosperity, and is for everyone their equal
chance at fame and fortune. My childhood hero was John Lennon. He was a bad
boy, middle class nobody whose Art brought him world prominence. His songs set
the ideal for my personality and formed my perceptions of the world. I was just
a kid when he got with Yoko Ono. Learning that such a person as Yoko Ono
existed, and who practiced this mystifying form of Art that impressed John
enough to leave that blonde was a penetrating reality to me at ten years old.
Although I have never pursued any of her artwork nor even seen much of it, I
take great solace in Yoko’s existence. If you were to ask me which living
artist I feel the greatest affinity with I would answer Yoko Ono.
222
Women
Suffer
Women
experience half of the pain felt in the world, and at least the simple majority
of that is psychic pain. Such pain may color a person’s whole life. It is a
BI-product of our culture and our history, and is inflicted subtly or blatantly
on all women in our society. Of course we can shrug off prejudice and
stupidity, but a steady diet of it is distasteful, and oppressive to the
spirit. The only practical solution is personality and intellectual
development, and this can come only from within each individual. Like Art.
223
Carpenter’s
Helper
Walks
on Shells organized, addresses a segment of the population who may begin to
turn things around. My plan for the rest of the population is that they should
combine their pursuit of their Art with a career that offers self-improvement.
If you wish to improve your personality and develop your intellect, and wish to
learn valuable skills, consider becoming a carpenter’s helper. A carpenter’s
helper must be intelligent, alert, honest, hardworking, and able to read a tape
measure and use a saw with common proficiency. She must be able to get the lay of
the land and accomplish the tasks that are necessary for the operation of the
crew. She must keep her mouth shut and do what she is told. She must understand
her function and fulfill her responsibilities, from cutting rafters to cleaning
the job site. She makes good money, if not great, and may earn respect and
status on her crew by hard work and efficiency.
224
Self
Improvement
Practicing
carpenter helping is beneficial to the artist in a number of ways. First you
work with materials that are real and substantial, and the work makes you sure,
and careful in its execution. Second you work with mathematics and spatial
dimensions, which strengthens your mental functioning. Next you are responsible
for showing up every day, because your function is essential to the working of
the crew. By working hard you merit good treatment and regular advancement and
raises. The requirements of a helper are modest, hammer, tape measure, square,
pencil, utility knife, chalk box and a nail bag are all that’s required for employment.
Many are called but few succeed in maintaining the position of carpenter’s
helper. They are in constant demand, but most applicants fail because they
don’t appreciate the dignity of the job, or the job gives them no dignity. It
is a temporary job by nature because one transcends it with a few years serious
application, or can find easier and more lucrative employment elsewhere with
the skills of a good helper. The benefits are outdoor work, honest labor and
accomplishment, and the satisfaction of creating homes that will shelter people
for their lives.
225
Connecting
Artists
My
idea is to operate a sort of temp agency connecting artists seeking sustenance
with builders who need competent, dedicated workers. With minimal training an
intelligent artist could be prepared to step into any operation and perform
effectively. Building homes is so pleasant that sometimes I wonder why everyone
doesn’t try it, at least for awhile. Of course they don’t for reasons involving
money, but if we all built houses we could all be substantial and become credit
worthy, and we could build houses for one another, so that everyone had a home.
Even though a thing is impossible it may still be considered. This is the
essence of Art. There are other trades besides carpenter, and the helper
principles can apply to any endeavor.
226
A
Sinking Ship
In
pursuit of the impossible I set off again for Nick’s ranch to seek the solace
of the woods and the council of Nick and his family. I was still manic, but
inspired and optimistic about the future. I arrived to a cheerful reception and
we arranged my favorite campsite away from everything, and made plans for a
Ghostdance POW WOW around the campfire that evening. I greeted young Holly and
pronounced her Walks on Shells, and told her about my idea, and she kind of
grooved on it. We socialized and partied for a while and a couple of times
Holly innocently became a bit more friendly than I thought was good for a young
girl, and I wanted to make her aware of my perception of her behavior. A
rational person would forget it, a concerned person might take it up with her
mother, but a whacked out, manic artist spoke up frankly, with apparently
shocking vocabulary. Poor Holly, Debra, her mother, and Nick were appalled, and
I sunk my ship before it could sail. Nick and Debra soon forgave me, of course,
but the magic spell of the Ghostdance was dissipated, and before it could be
rekindled Nick Martin passed away, younger than I, of a weak heart did. Nick
touched the hearts and minds of a multitude of friends, and his funeral was the
most densely attended in my experience. I was miserable as I left the ranch and
returned to Galveston. The magic was over and Rick contacted me and informed me
he had other use for his house.
227
Opportunity
for Intelligence
I
returned to San Antonio and temporary work. At this point my evolution as an
artist is complete to my present stage of development as an outsider artist.
Subsequent autobiographical information is fairly irrelevant at this point. I
cannot separate my Art from my mental process or my mental disorder, so I have
addressed them in the detail that I have to indicate how I evolved. Each
individual has her own obstacles to overcome. If we can remove obstacles to
personality and intellectual development from our youth, they may literally
give us a golden future by creating their own for themselves. There is and
never can be a shortage of opportunity for intelligent, hardworking people in a
stable economy in a peaceful world. Therefore we must maintain peace at any
cost, and husband our economies, whether individual, local, state, federal or
global. Transcend Democracy, which is after all two wolves and a sheep voting
on the menu.
The Law
228
Eat
the Rich
Vote
with your whole person, by right livelihood, and solve your own problems
through application and community. Relegate political office holders to mere
essential functionaries, without power or prestige, but to be honored and
respected for their capability, sacrifice and wisdom. Return our federal government
to the integrity of its Constitution and abolish the hated income tax and the
oppressive bureaucracy. Our present government expends enormous resources to
tell us not to drink and drive, to wear seat belts, not to do drugs, to nurture
our youth, not to smoke cigarettes, to subsidize tobacco farmers and not to
leave your keys in your car. My old World Book contained an article about that
guy Goebles, who was a proponent of propaganda, which his government
nefariously used to de-humanize people for political purposes. This was
bullshit when the Nazis pulled it, and we kicked their ass for it, or so we
thought.
229
Propaganda
Our
government didn’t care what the Nazis did, only how they did it to allies.
Within a generation of defeating fascism, America had adopted its form in
total. Today’s propaganda is insidious and unnecessary in a society of thinking
people. Propaganda is bullshit and most particularly when it is propagated by
the state. This is an irrefutable law. Any such message that people may wish to
propagate may be done by private subscription to better effect. Our freedom and
our power come to us from only one source, and it is the foundation of all of
our society, the law.
230
Unalienable
Rights
Our
law was established by the Magna Charta in the year 1215, at which time the
people got King John’s back against the wall, and extracted certain unalienable
rights for English speaking subjects and established English Common Law. People
finally had a right to own property and not be deprived of it arbitrarily, and
a right to trial and civil protections. These things were unheard of at the
turn of the last millenium; today they are taken for granted. But our rights
were hard won in human evolution, and are currently subject to political whim.
231
The
Constitution
The
Constitution of the United States is a unique and wonderful document, that
elegantly constructs our Republic, which is meant to be self sustaining and
offer minimal intrusion into its citizens’ lives and affairs. Our Constitution
is vital for its structure of the functions of government, and its limitations
of the power of office holders to act without consensus. It is the authority by
which the federal and various state legislatures pass the myriad laws that
regulate our society. Lessor bodies pass statutes and ordinances, and the
President and state Governors may issue executive orders that perform as laws.
These are all separate and inferior to Constitutional law, mere political
expedients accumulated over time, and codified into an increasingly complex
world of its own devise.
232
Baffling
System
Such has been necessary perhaps with the existing level of human development, where a common working person was not expected to understand her own affairs, and needed to hire a lawyer to tend to them. As the general population became literate, lawyers evolved an increasingly complex and baffling system that insured their employment. As the population became sophisticated, law, regulation and taxation spawned an industry of lawyers, accountants and bookkeepers. The present system is bewildering and expensive, and jammed with people who are made criminals by political dictation. We have simply evolved as human beings beyond the limitations of our present system. We shall never solve our societal problems by fertilizing the status quo with money, ideas or activity. It is the season to prune.
233
Trust
Your Practice
Practicing
law is like practicing Art. It requires mental labor and dedication to
self-improvement. It carries a trust to do good in your practice, and at the
very least not to do wrong. Like the artist, the lawyer performs an essential
service at our present stage of human development. An artist who pursues the
practice of law may discover some means to simplify its practice and perhaps
even readjust the economic dynamics of the industry.
Medicine
234
At
Home in Our Bodies
No
less immediate to our lives is the practice of medicine. We are at home in our
bodies, and it behooves us to maintain them, as best we may. Medicine implies
science, and we all profit by the study of science and the scientific method.
Understanding nutrition is crucial to maintaining good health. Composing our
diets of nutritious foods, and avoiding foods we know to be detrimental, is
core to good health and happy prosperity. And what goes in must come out, a
regular cycle with consistent result is most desirable, and anything less is
cause for concern. When the body is excited and particularly stimulated it may
experience orgasm, which is a real physical and spiritual thing. The mind
experiences its own sort of orgasm called kundalini, which is a physical and
spiritual sensation experienced by the mind as a result of chemical changes in
the brain provoked by thought. Kundalini is commonly experienced by religious
people, and is understood as rapture.
235
Of
Orgasms
Of
orgasms it is instructive to understand their function. They are notification
and reward for successful copulation for reproductive purposes. For as long as
people have existed it has been crucial that we reproduce, and this instinct
moves us deeply. Life was short and unpredictable and a family was the ideal
structure in support of life. Today we have essentially transcended this need
and voluntary reproduction is quite sufficient for maintaining the population.
This was not true in Christ’s time, and catholic values perpetuated the
population to the extent that certain Biblical truth has become less relevant.
Today the orgasm is essentially separated from its reproductive purpose. It is
something of a commodity around which many structure their existence. This is
natural because the orgasm is the cheapest way to experience the elevated mind.
236
Orgasm’s
Power
The
power of the orgasm lies in its reality. The sensory build-up around and the
orgasm itself fall within the bounds of elevated personality and intellect.
When we are getting regular sex we experience an elevated mental outlook and
generally perform in a more efficient manner. A person may become proficient at
creating her own orgasms and derive satisfaction even from that. Sadly all that
sex can confuse a person and she may not perceive the elevated mind beyond sex.
Do not make sex more than it is. The feelings that you express sexually
represent more than an orgasm, and these interactions deeply affect your life.
237
Mental
Orgasms
The
rush of kundalini is a more subtle sensation than an orgasm, but emotionally it
may be a much more fulfilling thing. It blossoms unexpectedly when the mind is
functioning at high level, and may seem to invest our thoughts with divine
affirmation. Kundalini is often experienced while smoking marijuana, and the
familiar head rush prized among hippie dope smokers is the phenomenon I
describe. It is commonly experienced as a prolonged and intense form called
rapture. Thought of a religious nature which is closely held and experienced in
life often triggers rapture, which is a temporary feeling of well being and
great emotion by which you feel like laughing and crying all at once. I’ve seen
books that discuss this phenomenon and they attribute all sorts of causes and
effects of kundalini, both chemical and spiritual. I can only say for sure that
it is a very real and welcome thing in my life, which I experience every day.
My prolonged and continued mental labors have paid this dividend at least, that
I may trigger these mental orgasms in my normal thought.
238
Medical
Learning
Dreams
are the release of the mind from the reality of mundane existence. They are
significant, as are daydreams, and they serve dual functions in sub-conscious
and conscious mental development. Finally physical exercise is beneficial to
human health and development, and will improve and prolong life. All of these
are personal concerns that we must each sort out for ourselves. If we are
diligent and competent we may maintain our own health by a steady accumulation
of medical learning.
239
Aches
and Pains
Physical
pain has causes. These causes may be diagnosed. Most diagnoses suggest
remedies. We each must learn to deal with pain. Having read Kipling as a boy, I
learned that pain is in the mind, and that a person may overcome pain by
deciding not to submit to it. Consequently I am unconcerned with aches and
pains generally, and when I am injured, beyond the initial pain I turn off the
residual and it disappears. If we suffer injury or disease we must seek a
doctor for treatment. Here money becomes a sad factor in our health equations.
Mostly our health concerns are minimal and we manage to afford medical
treatment. If we are lucky and can afford insurance coverage, but there also
are many that cannot. When health care is denied for financial reasons, minor
treatable conditions may fester into something worse, which creates a monstrous
bill by it eventual treatment.
240
Universal
Insurance
I
cannot conceive that it would be unprofitable to offer modest insurance
policies universally that could be paid for through payroll deductions, and
allow all common medical care to be administered at affordable cost. Everyone
would participate at a level she chooses to pay for. The level of demand for
health care brought about by universally available insurance will rejuvenate
the entire industry. Medicines with universal demand may be produced more
economically. Devices and technologies may be mass-produced and distributed
around the globe at arranged terms, beneficial to all parties. The impact of
this phenomenon alone would spark economic prosperity in the entire nation.
241
Health’s
Lottery
What
about catastrophic illness and disease that may cost millions to treat? These
things are like a lottery after all, we get our ticket at birth and our genes
are a factor we can only now recognize, and cannot yet even structure an
imagination of what they mean to us. Within our numerous populations some will
get the AIDS, cancer, MS or MD or any of the others that devastate a family and
their finances. Although their total numbers are enormous these unlucky people
comprise only a tiny percentage of the population. It would behoove us to care
for all such persons compassionately, for the cost is small split among us all,
and any of us may succumb, ourselves or our family.
242
Health
and Religion
So
we live our lives as we choose, maintaining our health, and reaching a ripe old
age. The question is less what comes after, surely that one is answered by what
came before, but rather, was I happy? The accumulation of a multitude of good
days in a lifetime makes it easier to shut our eyes for the last time. Who
knows if or where or when we open them anew and begin another life.
Interpretation beyond this point is meaningless, metaphorical and manipulative
to present to others. Children profit from dogma, it gives meaning to a complex
intellectual concept and a form of authority to adults and clerics who
presumably understand the mysteries that confound us. Religion is a path to
right livelihood, one as good as the next. Religion brings opportunity to serve
personkind, and mental solace in life. I pray my hippie brothers and sisters
around the world will advocate with their Art, the mutual respect and peaceful
co-existence of all warring peoples. Compassion is the hammer that may flatten
hatred to its smallest area. But hatred pursists bitterly, and must be
consciously recognized and dismissed, sometimes for an intolerable period, but
it may recede and disappear when we perceive that this is the best thing for
ourselves.
243
Genetics
Although
scientists have identified our genetic make up and can even make genetics do
tricks; we are still far from comprehending the entirety of its nature. It is
perhaps pre-mature to patent a gene, but such is proper so long as the license
fee to study and exploit such genes is reasonable, so that research proceeds.
Ultimately we need to collect enough data to understand the ramifications of
genetic technology. It serves no purpose to impose ethical restrictions when we
have not yet determined what we’re dealing with. If indeed fetal tissue may
provide life saving properties, I think we should find out about them. Could we
acquire fetal tissue naturally or without harming the fetus? Only diligent
pursuit will bring us these answers. Artists who pursue the practice of
medicine may imagine our way to conquering disease and physical decay, and
perhaps the cure would not be worse than the disease. Maybe with all the facts
we will learn stem cels may be derived from baby shit.
Mental
Disorders
Of
mental disorders I can speak from personal experience. Mental disorders are
real things that the people who suffer from them know all to well. It’s dicey
whether a person develops a disabling level of a mental disorder, it can happen
to anyone. Today many debilitating mental disorders may be effectively treated
with medication, but many mental health consumers need additional personality
and intellectual development. Treating these three aspects of a person promises
successful elevation over time. The history of my life is a chain of people who
helped me when I needed it. They helped me to help myself, and this ability is
my greatest asset. An artist who suffers a mental disorder might use her Art to
express her unique perspective, and seek treatment, because for many disorders
there are real benefits to medication. But I strongly enjoin you to investigate
each medication you are prescribed, and satisfy yourself that it is safe. The
mind chemistry is delicate and only a small dose of most drugs is needed to
affect its action. Slight physical side effects are a worthy trade off for
clear thought, but severe reactions make such medications ill advised.
Anthropology
245
Ascending
Triangle
Anthropology
reveals the curious fact that people are not influenced by something they have
never experienced. People are entirely creatures of their experience, and this
is why it is so important to expand our experience as much as possible. Through
the constant struggle for improvement undertaken by a small segment of the
population, the whole society they live in is elevated. Wassily Kandinsky wrote
of the ascending triangle. Human development may be understood as an ascending
triangle representing personkind. Imagine a triangle divided by two horizontal
parallel lines into three sections. The top section represents the small
segment of the population with elevated minds and developed personalities.
Their efforts raise the triangle eternally upward. Beneath are the bulk of
ordinary people who live their lives productively, and as the triangle rises
they are carried to the place that the ones above once occupied alone. Beneath
the general population are that group of incapable, unenlightened or immoral
persons who exist despite all efforts to improve and reform them. Even they who
cannot help themselves are brought up in intelligence by the ascending
triangle, but always they remain at the bottom. The metaphor is accurate, and
reflects what is happening in our society.
246
Future
Help
As
the next generation reaches computer literacy to complement its elevated minds,
everything I have written may come true. The primitive people of Christ’s time
were anthropologically far removed from today’s population. As the concept of
the elevated mind spread, personkind developed at the pace that innovation
could be disseminated. Knowledge is power, and as it has been widely
disseminated and commonly absorbed we people truly have more power than ever
before. We common people have wrested our freedom from the state in 1215 and
1776 and it is time to do it again to begin the 21st century. There
is much work to do in bringing the rest of the world to parity with the United
States, but the recognition of certain inalienable rights of all peoples, and
the institution of common law in areas that presently have none will make them
the fields that shall grow liberty, equality and prosperity for people who
today face only poverty, ignorance and degradation. The primary obstacles to peace
and prosperity are the lack of understanding of their causes and the greed and
short sightedness that prevents us from simply doing what is right. As we each
individually embrace compassion and right livelihood we materially shift the
balance of power towards redemption for society. Everybody counts.
Events
247
Happy
Birthday
Events
proceed through time and space. Events bring changes great and slight, and are
in all cases keys to advancement, if we understand and anticipate them. The
event of our birth created a vast, insatiable demand for the elements of life.
So too it created a store of experience and capability to effectively produce a
surplus of goods and services. Humanity is equal and universal in this
capacity. The only differences fall into the three categories of the ascending
triangle that I described.
Scale
Waco
Everything
falls neatly into a scale of three. Good, better best or good, fair, poor or
fast, faster, fastest are all scales that allow us to assign specific value in
communication and understanding. Of course a scale may have infinite
graduations, but three is Holy and will serve you well in your considerations
and meditations alike. Consider the siege at Mt. Carmel and apply your own
scale of propriety to its conduct and outcome. The raid itself was sadly, not
unusual here in Texas. A similar posse of BATF feds, state and local police
officers pulled identical hijinx at Nick’s ranch a month prior to the Waco
siege and confiscated a number of firearms. Fortunately Nick had the sense not
to resist and the means to assert his rights, and his property was returned to
him, except for such few guns as was stolen in police custody.
249
Pay
Up Or Else
I
believe David Koresh had a condition similar to my own. I too can read the
Bible with an ancient sensibility, so that I perceive its lessons deeply. What
Koresh failed to perceive was that the Bible is an enlightened work of
literature, constructed to inspire enlightenment in those who study its
meaning, no more, no less. God’s hand in its construction and constitution is
surely evident, as it is in every work of Art. When the Davidians were
threatened they grabbed their guns when they should have grabbed their
checkbook, because that was the intention of all those stormtroopers who came
to church to collect for Caesar.
250
Unlawful
Legal Confiscation
Based
on the video tape evidence of the initial raid itself I deduce that the feds
fired the first shots. The Davidians foolishly fired back and the rest is
history. Those few unlucky agents of the government who perished in the raid
are a debt owed by the federal bureaucracy, not the seventeen children who were
horribly murdered at Waco. We do not need a federal Gestapo confiscating legal
property from citizens that has been made illegal by statute for political
purposes. When our federal government feels that it can assault a church, burn
it to the ground with eighty occupants, while gunning them down as they attempt
to flee the flames, it is not too soon to examine that government closely, to determine
if we cannot make some changes. The sort of revolution I advocate is in the
nature of changing all the locks and quietly changing everything.
Situations
251
A
Precarious Situation
Each
of us finds herself in a particular situation, composed of where we live, where
we work (or don’t work), our family and friends, our interests, pursuits and
interactions. The events at Waco placed us all in the situation of observing
our government commit a horrible crime, and then left to swallow it raw by the
state’s lies and the abuse of power by supposed public servants. Waco was not
the first such abuse of power, and Vicky Weaver was not the first person
murdered by federal agents over a petty tax beef. But Waco was too severe to be
forgotten, and the pain festers yet in many, many persons. This pain was
demonstrated two years later in Oklahoma City, where demented persons inflicted
a similar crime upon the government. Neither act had a shred of sanity nor
dignity nor righteousness connected to them, and the blood of Timothy McVeigh
will bring only cold comfort.
252
Two
Vulgar Words
To
be polite there are two words one must never speak. These two words are very
old, and may well remain from the time when we all spoke the same language.
Military men adopted these words in ancient times to train troops who had no
education but could at least understand them both. Both words are
simultaneously nouns and verbs, and flexible enough to serve together as an
entire serviceable vocabulary for a soldier. With these two words one may
acquire or transmit situational understanding immediately, with only a few
words. Observe: shit is a feces, people shit feces while their shit sits on the
ground next to them. Soldiers battle in the shit, and individual soldiers take
little shit from one another. Shit rolls downhill and an officer who dumps his
shit on you is himself a shit.
253
Situational
Awareness
Similar
various meanings can be said of fuck. Alone and in combination these two words
can express a world of meaning. Their value in military training was in
teaching higher level perception to recruits who were anthropologically only a
few steps above caveman. I am unaware of other words that display this peculiar
quality. That is why they are vulgar and not to be uttered before women and
children, because it may prove embarrassing for such persons to attain the
higher function of situational awareness.
254
Chain
of Situations
It
is always valuable to meditate on any situation we may find ourselves engaged
in. A situation may appear favorable or not on first examination, but it is
important to always remember that we are an element. Taking command of a
situation entails certain commitments and certain sacrifices. Better to be
quiet and uncommitted and wait for your opportunity to affect a situation. Time
and observation and contemplation bring understanding. Our position is stronger
based on understanding if we let it guide our speech and action. Dealing from
emotion we commit errors in judgement which diminishes our situational effectiveness.
Large and small a chain of situations makes up our lives.
255
Essential
Attitude
Employment
is a situation we all must pursue as necessary for life, beyond its monetary
reward. Whatever job we pursue, great or menial, we must perform it with
dignity, so that it fulfils our inner need for distinction. Though your
compensation may be meager always remember you agreed to the work and wages. If
you find that you made a poor bargain, fulfil your obligation and resign. It
doesn’t matter how someone else regards us or treats us, as long as we behave
with dignity, honor our word and consistently labor for our security and
prosperity. Do not believe that performing a menial job is beneath a person of
your station. Such perceptions are obstacles to clear thought and
understanding. A person may invest dignity in any job, and dignity will accrue
to any individual who performs her work competently and cheerfully. Be aware
that most jobs in America make demands on a worker’s life and psyche.
256
Work
Depression
An
employer may demand a set of behavioral standards that require you to transform
your personality to earn a paycheck. Most often our job is not what we would
choose to do but only what events and our situation has led us to. We may have
a lifelong career undertaken only for money. So many of us live from paycheck
to paycheck, dispersing our life’s income on essentials for survival. We see
plainly that we have no opportunity to transcend our situation, so we buy
lottery tickets, drink beer, get high, get laid or anything else to kill the
pain that comes when our dreams are forever beyond our reach.
257
Pays
Off for All
The
humblest menial employee, the most hardened convicted criminal and the most
degraded and demeaned woman may overcome all obstacles and attain happiness,
security, employment and prosperity if she meditates, thinks and develops
personally and intellectually, develops and pursues positive interests and gets
up every day to work with dignity. Remember that the Arts are open to all
persons, and are our best hope for attaining prosperity.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tell me what you really think..