This outline (left) consists of individual elements I have isolated as key factors composing our subconscious mind. I have given each a name for ease in consideration as stand alone factors and as combinations as well.
I have expanded these variables as eight line verses that I call Octaines, a form I commonly work in. When I finished with all 14 Octaines I dashed of 14 corresponding poems in an hour and a half. A personal record, and I reckon there's some subconscious something going on there.
The complete outline entitled 'Sweet Neurology of My Heart' is posted in October's posts below. Here immediately below is the first chapter of my expanded text on 'The Nature Of Reality.'
Fern The Nature of Reality
We hold onto structures of our existence in our personal lives and also as a society. The things we have always known bring us comfort of a sort, but seen objectively, they are often not what we believe them to be. Realilty is always behind us. We understand the nature of reality to be static, even though our lives demonstrate that this is not the case.
A child is born and raised by loving parents who often don’t notice the rapid changes in their child on a day to day basis. Concerns, worry, labor and more that a parent must cope with can cause the multiplicity of new and fleeting factors that come, each with a new immediacy that are met and dealt with without a real perception of changing realities.
We adapt to new realities in ourselves and our families as a matter of course; and most people will say that they are constant in their lives and behavior if asked. Even though exterior forces cause them to change and adapt constantly. We make these changes to solve problems and make our lives work within the constraints in which we find ourselves.
So often in our lives we are striving for a thing; but we are made to see we must accept something else instead. Education is a fine example of this curious reality. We want very much for our children to be educated, and in the abstract we imagine them to be literate, somewhat proficient in math, science and social studies; with a bit of an understanding of history, economics and other subjects to boot. Now, if a parent insists that their student gains this experience with work and study our schools are possibly able to provide it. However if, as most parents do, they rely on their student’s teachers, curriculum, supervision and testing they will be cheated of meaningful learning in favor of learning to fit the purposes of administrators and politicians; who have no interest in thoughtful educated persons, but every use for passive, unimaginative workers or candidates for higher education.
These following points illustrate the realities of current American public high school education. There is a political source of funding for a school district. There are the top level of politically appointed distributors of school funding. There are physical school properties, each with a Principal and incumbent staff. There is a budget meant to pay for teachers salaries, other salaries for coaches, assistants, custodians, lunchroom staff, equipment, supplies, utilities and everything necessary to operate the school: to in turn educate the students.
There is a beauty to be found in equations of multiple variables such as described above in operating a school. The fact that the majority of these indicated variables are human beings makes their complexity in effect, infinite. This being the case, in order to bring order to chaos, arbitrary lines must be drawn. This being so, it follows that the persons in charge of making these arbitrary decisions will do so to meet their own pleasure and profit. Detached consideration can only lead to this conclusion, no rational logic can predict any other outcome.
The best we can hope for from our education is the ability to discern for ourselves right from wrong when we can see it and understand it. However our lives have a way of building structures about us that serve in place of reason. A job, friendships, relationships, romance, marriage and family are all examples of structures in our personal lives. Also there are fixtures within these structures that very often serve in place of reason. For instance there is one’s paycheck; if it is very large it stands for many of life’s concerns, and holds them nicely at bay. If your paycheck is only much smaller it can solve only that many fewer problems; and we must seek other means to deal with our lives demands.
Other fixtures in our lives may be almost anything; persons, pets, objects such as televisions or toaster ovens, computers, telephones and other tech-type devices. All of these may be fixtures to the extent that we depend on them to live our lives for us; or that we live through them. It is the nature of the reality of human beings to construct these structures and fixtures to give our lives continuity and meaning. In themselves they may be a good and positive aspect of our lives. As they maintain a simplicity and balance life is manageable and reason is well able to prevail in decisions and judgments about our concerns and affairs.
A time comes in the life of nearly every modern human being that her life becomes excessively complex and dependent upon a single fixture for virtually every aspect of their existence. Though we think we are interested in many different aspects of life; in fact they are nothing in our concerns compared to the constant and eternal pursuit of the main modern fixture: MONEY. We think that our lives have various meanings and most of us use objects in our possession as a gauge of our success and happiness. It is tempting to believe that our income is a real measure of our happiness, largely because we use it to gain the objects we desire, the insurance that we may be treated for illness or emergency; and it is saved to provide us security in our old age so that we can retire and still live a nice life without our daily labor.
We perceive that this is THE reality of money, and so it looms before us as the structure that allows us to survive, rather than the useful tool of convenience it really is if we can step back and assign it a different reality in our lives. It is the nature of money that the more one acquires it or desires it the more our lives become filled with demands for more and more of it to satisfy perceived happiness.
Here is a description of the path of supposed American prosperity and happiness. One gains a public school education and next looks for higher education at a college or University that the parents or student loans can pay for. Education is only incidental to a college education. What is imparted is conformity, labor and the developed ability to read the instructors; and feed back to them the form they demand. Education, though not specifically excluded, is not what is purchased with a degree: the object is a credential. The credentials buy one a foot in the door to the lucrative jobs in academia, finance, business and government.
So now we are led with luck to a good sort of entry level job in some private firm. The money seems good, but the expenses of living are high as well. Perhaps we start a family, and very likely there is already a good deal of debt to be maintained. The salary has deductions for future retirement, health insurance coverage and of course federal and state deductions from every paycheck. As an entry level employee the firm expects long hours labor in return for our fancy salary; punctuality and our butt in the seat at the desk every every every day.
So we have a good job and lots of money coming to us, that is mostly spent as soon as we have it. Between work and sleep our ‘life’ is reduced to a few precious hours a day, and perhaps most of the occasional weekend. Although, in five years or so we may work our way up to a larger office and salary, and maybe even more personal time away from work, not to mention vacations. But the kids are growing older too, they attend school but there are more demands for our time that we satisfy with our money. A bigger house, more more more stuff, the latest, most stylish this and that. Maybe we stay ahead of the expenses, but what if we do not? Our every thought, action, hope and dream is only for more money.
This is only natural and quite to be expected, because the way of all American business, finance, manufacturing, religion and government is the worship of constant growth, or ultimately more money. In our system the value of everything is reduced to the figure that it can be bought and sold for. As we may see this twisted perception has driven our employment overseas because manufacturing domestically makes little sense when foreign workers will produce for a fraction on the dollar. So here fewer and fewer accrue increasing most of the money; while an ever larger majority struggle to pay their bills.
Look closely at the structure of our government for the reasons this is true. Two hundred years ago it worked amazingly well for Colonial governance. By any objective analysis of it’s function in the 21st Century shows that it now just resembles pigs at a trough. Wall Street cleans up on legislated retirement and investment funds that pool hundreds of billions of dollars over decades, which are manipulated so that they make fortunes for the managers, and only a pittance by comparison to the creators of this wealth at the time it matures. If the banks haven’t gone bust in the mean time.
The bankers shovel money into the political trough so that incumbents constantly muddy the waters by spewing a steady stream of lies and distortions, that with the faithful retelling from every elected mouthpiece become as good as truth to the majority of we persons; intent upon getting our ‘news’ by paying attention to lapdog press pundits. All of these keep their steady jobs and hefty paychecks by doling out fear, mistrust and hatred; which are the building blocks of the continuity of political representation in our government.
Back to our persons with good jobs and many wants and as many debts, where are we to find the time to look into or even question what we see, hear and read in the press accounts? The ‘News’ itself has become a commodity we choose for much the same reason as a brand of beer. First they tell us that the sky is falling, next they point out that elected official X is responsible and legislation Y is only bound to make things worse. While carefully never making any binding promise to fix anything, never the less claiming OUR political creatures will inevitably be an improvement. If we are so imprudent as to write a check to one or another political campaign, or even register to vote in some places, we are subjected to political spam that has no constraint of shame or regulation bidding a daisy-chain of old ladies to hate and fear politicians they know nothing truthful about.
They say we are going to be owned by the Chinese, as if there were no structured repayment of Bonded debt. Just as they said that the Japanese were going to own us decades ago when we were absorbing THEIR prosperity. It takes only a little time and effort to investigate and learn the truth of even very complicated and complex issues of finance, business, politics and government; but that is the very thing Americans cannot and will not spare. This reality is what allows the powers that be to manufacture ‘true lies’ and repeat them to us in any flavor we desire.
So here is the nature of reality: we give up our precious time in exchange for objects, debt and money. We see no way to have enough money so we fret, worry and fear for the future. Our dishonest politicians forsake everything for the ‘god’ of money which they know full well binds and stupefies their constituents. ‘No new taxes’ they intone as the doxology of political dogma. ‘Your family can’t spend more that you make’ they point out as if everyone hasn’t their own huge credit card dependence; ’Our government can’t keep building deficits that our poor darling children will have to pay’ Are people governments? Or are governments people? This sloganeering has banished all rational debate from political discourse. Compromise, which is the essence and purpose of politics is not permitted to exist in the theological worship of money.
