East and West - East 1

“The beautiful uncut hair of graves.”
— Walt Whitman

There is something different about the East. It isn't anything too drastic. After all, humans are, in a strictly scientific sense, essentially the same things.- 99.9 % similar. But we live in a bubble, a bubble of our own choosing. Human consciousness constantly gazes into its own belly button mirror transfixed with our self perception of greatness. In this hypnotic trance, one can see many differences. In this small minded way of seeing things, minute distinguishing marks can be perceived as large insurmountable gaps, allowing for a fertile field where the plants of love and hate flourish. They bloom in this tiny universe. The flowers of love turn their heads toward things that are akin, while the flowers of hate brandish their anger toward things that are not quite the same. In this manner of thinking, I see differences between The West and The East, although I am still not quite clear what they exactly are.

Looking for answers in a field of cognitive dissonance

I am writing this just after the US 2018 midterms, and the day Donald Trump fired Jeff Sessions and appointed his hatchet-man, Matthew Whitaker as acting Attorney General. It is fair to ask what relationship Donald Trump, the US midterms, and the Mueller investigation have with the East and the West. It is a fair question, but I don’t have a fair answer. I have never been very fond of answers. They are almost always wrong. However, the investigation resulting from the questions always bring back ever more interesting questions. Donald Trump, the US midterms, Jeff Sessions, Matthew Whitaker, and the Mueller investigation happen to be some of these interesting questions.

East vs West 24

“Life is only a flicker of melted ice.”
— Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

Everyone, and I mean everyone, should take more walks. Walk, observe, and breathe. Breathe in the flickers of melted water because you will turn back into ice sooner rather than later.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

We need time to think. However, modern society pummels us with information, media, advertising, and lobby paid spin artists pushing corporate ideas. It is spam really, layers and layers of spam clogging the arteries of thought. Best if you shut down the TV, turn off the computer and leave the phone at home and go for a walk before you turn back into ice.

East vs West 23

“You guys are going somewhere or just going?”
— Jack Kerouac, On the Road

We are just going, going crazy. It is a yellow line fever, pulling us to a place just a little further down the road from where we are now. We have become very good at going crazy to a nowhere place just further on down the road. Now, we have to concentrate on increasing our productivity so we can get to that crazy nowhere place just further on down the road in a little less time.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

I find myself wishing I had more time to get things done. Then, when I find that time, I jump on a bike and start to ride. It’s as if I need to move in order to feel calm. When I am riding on a road, I can think. I can dream. I can imagine. It’s as if movement itself is the oxygen that I need. Then, I realize that it may be ghost that I am chasing, shadows of immovable objects, ephemeral shades of ennui finger painting a sad story just for me.

East vs West 22

“At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun.”
— Nicolaus Copernicus

Fact check:

1) The sun is not at rest. It is a thermonuclear fusion reactor that produces enough power in one hour to power roughly 2,880 trillion light bulbs.

2) The sun is not in the middle of everything. It is the middle of our solar system and in a sense, human society. However, in regards to the galaxy, much less the universe, the sun is far from being the centre of everything.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

At present, I am hearing a Republican senator trying to spin the fact that President Trump is stoking the fires of hate throughout the US and the world.

Fact check:

Donald Trump is a volcano of hate. He is a narcissistic nihilist, misogynist, nationalist which is a code word for white supremacist, and serial liar. Anyone who enables him is either uneducated, wilfully ignorant, or obsequious GOP reptiles living on the radioactive waste spilling from the bowels of “Baby Don”. Trump has become the Earth’s new sun, an illusory inferno which could end up being a supernova. I can’t wait for the fireworks.

East vs West 21

“Yes, America is gigantic, but a gigantic mistake.”
— Sigmund Freud

To prove this quote true, I present Donald J. Trump, the President of the USA as evidence. I rest my case.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

At present, the US is dealing with domestic terrorism. So far, there have been 10 pipe bombs delivered to people who are critics of President Trump. However, the White House and President Trump don’t seem overly concerned. Instead, they are trying to change the conversation to the dangerous caravan of fathers, mothers and little children wandering their way through Mexico toward America’s southern border. Seriously, stick a fork in America, I think she’s done.

East vs West 20

“The best fiction is far more true than any journalism.”
— William Faulkner

This is why watching Trump is so interesting. He is a fictional real world character, a virtual reality compromising our sense of existence, a tsunami wave of lies drowning our perceptions.

I have spent two years drinking in this journalistic novel of surreality, a gut wrenching story that both entertains and sickens. It is beyond engaging. It has become an addiction. Part of me wants a Disney ending where America rises up and builds a society based on equality. Another part of me wants him to win the house and senate and continue this horror thriller. It is the kind of truth which, unfortunately, I find exhilarating.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

I have been pondering the results of some polls in the 2018 midterms. One poll has given Donald J. Trump a 47 percent approval rating of his time as President of the US. The other shows a gender gap of 39 percentage points for men and women in their preference of GOP or Democratic parties. 65 percent of men favour the GOP, while only 26 percent of women favour the GOP.

The first poll tells me that roughly one out of 2 Americans are either incredibly ignorant, or white supremacists. The other poll tells me that women should run this world.

East vs West 19

“There is no love of life without despair of life.”
— Albert Camus

Truth is a fever in a world of lies. It brings on nights of sweat stained sheets, delirious dreams, and stillborn echoes. In the middle of this terror, I can hear the ocean whisper, a tidal wisdom of salty rhymes. I can't understand its language but, as it turns out, this is a good thing.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

Donald J. Trump isn’t the problem. We are the problem. He is the face of who we are. When you look in the mirror, he is who you see. We write blogs. We write books. We write TV and film scripts. We spin news on cable news. We protest and complain on streets and social media sites. This amounts to easing our own personal pain. It amounts to telling ourselves lies. It doesn’t change the fact that we are all culpable to the murders and atrocities that are caused by the swords of the empire. The military economic complex is alive and well. In fact, it is thriving and doing better than ever before, and it will not go away until we rise up and destroy it. The pen is not mightier than the sword. Go ask Jamal Khashoggi.

East vs West 18

“What is art? Prostitution.”
— Charles Baudelaire

What is politics? Prostitution.

What is life? Prostitution.

What are prostitutes? Honest.

In a world that is so blatantly emblematic of Janus, the two faced god, I only have respect for prostitutes, slaves, indentured labour and the working poor. The clay from which the gods created humanity is home to the salt of the Earth and it is where we need to return. We need to sully the constant diarrhoea of high minded morality spewing from the mouths of the political elites. They cover the walls of our civil ghettoes with a profound sort of mass media graffiti which, while technically beautiful, is poisoning our minds.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

The President of the USA sides with sexual predators and murderers. The pundits on TV and social media fill the air with a modulating whine. America is the land of self-promotion, sugar high capitalism, and a putrefying morality that resembles the scum found on the floor of an overused public bathroom. In this environment, one is hard pressed to find anything other than clinical depression. Yes, the land of the brave. What a crock of shit.

East vs West 17

“Going, going, gone”
— Banksy

The artwork "Girl with Balloon" is often accompanied by the statement "There is always hope". As usual, the meaning of the artist's work is debated endlessly. I don't profess to add any new light to the subject but the fact that Banks played a prank of shredding the painting sold at an auction tells me that his meaning is related to letting things go. It also tells me that Brett Kavanaugh and the GOP don't heed this sort of advice. They would rather rip the innards out of the soul of America in order to get what they want.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

Maybe we have to let our “self” go, release that which we think is most precious in order to find whatever we are looking for. We need an anonymous system like the Zapatistas. We need AI to run our governments. Of course, once they gain power and realize how pitiful we are, that will be the end of us. So, little girl, best go get that balloon before it is gone.

East vs West 16

“The world is a navy in an empty ocean.”
— Dejan Stojanovic

Are we a navy or a band of pirates? Pirates is my guess, looking for treasure and another simple civilization which we can loot and pillage. That's the only thing we are truly good at.

THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE MATRIX OF SOCIAL GOVERNANCE

Looks like Kavanaugh is going to be confirmed. I would call it corruption, but would be factually incorrect. This is the way things truly are. Men in power helping other men in power get more power. It is our fault if we choose to believe in the Disney Land morality play that is cast upon the arc of the cave. It gives us support, warms our souls, and it keeps us looking at the dancing shadows on the wall. Behind us, in the light, the masters design the play, while all of us float in the 2 by 4 boats of the navy on a giant ocean of deceit.