Michón Neal's Blog, page 30
March 26, 2013
Thorough and Perpetual Skepticism
Reblogged from atheist, polyamorous, skeptics:
Skepticism is a method.
I'll repeat.
Skepticism is a method. It is not a set of beliefs or even tentative conclusions (it leads to the latter, however). You cannot be a skeptic for a little while, come to some conclusions, and stop being skeptical. OK, well, you can do that, but doing so is counter-productive, assuming you care what's true and not merely a little better than what you used to think.
I love this. I could never understand why people stopped short on certain topics. I've always been a searcher, and I've taken time a few times a year to reexamine what I think I believe and what I actually know. It's a lovely task, oftentimes, but it is right. I swore to take nothing for granted for my own sake and each day I can shake off some dust-covered useless idea. I'm certain of less and less as time goes on yet that which I know has a stronger foundation for it.
March 20, 2013
Five Books and Characters
I now have five books published! Whew, it’s a lot of work but it’s so amazing. The BTS universe is spinning around in my head. My focus is solely on completing publication. It moves my stories further from me but it will also represent my victory over my past. I include some fairly personal information in the Black Tree series and related books because for me, writing these stories was my path forward. My writing played a central role in my healing process and I want to share it with others who are struggling, who see no way out, and those who’ve conquered their demons and look back on their battle with pride.
To celebrate my publication and my journey, I’m going to start listing characters here. One at a time, I’ll explain a little bit about them and include a song that represents them. I don’t own any rights to any of the songs but if my books ever become movies or shows I already have a soundtrack in mind and will secure the rights to use them on-screen. There are probably hundreds of characters yet I’ll mostly list my favorites. I’ll still post in the Integrated Living series from time to time. I have all the ideas for entries, it’s just a matter of finding the time to get it written out. Thank you for your patience with me during this epic year. I have a lot more work to do and I absolutely love it!
March 10, 2013
Further Explanation
Oh Yeah, let me clarify yesterday’s post. Basically my new project is going to be a series about the world truly following the live and let live saying. I’m going to hit as many issues as I can: sex, education, art, zoning laws, etc. Basically everyone will operate according to their own lingual conclusions. What would happen if no one stood in your way? It’s just, Hollywood and other media seems to be churning out recycled copies of copies right now. I figured I’d write something different and for once something happy from beginning to end. Of course the conclusions I reach may upset people but people hate and fear me anyway. Who cares?
March 9, 2013
A Fresh Start
Ha as if I didn’t have enough planned for this year now I have another big idea. A truly frictionless environment. The largest experiment I’ll likely ever do. One of my characters asked me why I never wrote anything happy. I finally have my answer to that. It will probably be an even bigger project than the BTS universe. It’s been sinking in what a complete alien I am and I’ve finally find a way to make use of that. Turning alienation into something new. Who knows if anyone will get it but that’s not the point. This challenge will let me know if I can truly order my mind when it has been so disordered in the past. My books are usually about nonsense and trying to figure out why people stand for it. This work will be different as I sort out what I actually understand about the world (if anything). I’ll give more details on this later, I know it may not make much sense without knowing you knowing the actual plot. It’s still gestating.
February 20, 2013
Integrated Living Series Part Two: Energy
It’s useful for me to think of the spirit, the soul, as being the sum total energy of a being. It is enough energy to last your entire lifespan (unless an accident cuts it short). Consciousness is the process that allows us to focus that energy for our survival. There are things in life that take away that energy (disease, people) and there are things that maintain it (productivity, people).
There was something that always happened to me that left me inexplicably without energy. I would be worn out and inefficient. For some reason, all sorts of people would open up to me. Strangers would just tell me random stories about what they’d done. Friends would confide secrets to me. It’s like I had a banner over my head that said I was trustworthy. I began to feel like a priest with the way folks were confessing to me.
Recently, I found out what this was and what it meant for me and my energy. I felt drained because these people were behaving like vampires. I’ve previously written about the tendency to pass emotions to another person (Emotional Wave) and I’ll elaborate here on a specific instance. Emotional vampires don’t always realize what they’re doing. Others intentionally leech on another person. Both groups are dumping their emotional baggage on you. However, the effects don’t last because of course you can’t actually give someone else your emotions. This is a cycle that must repeat itself for the person to feel relief. It can become an addiction.
The unaware enabler is left feeling drained because they now have to use their energy to hold information inside or to try to help the other person feel better. This is why gossip helps no one. Each person just sends the burden down the chain until everyone is feeling worse. Misery loves company, right? Disease is the physical component of an energy drain; sucking away your strength until your body has no more fuel left.
On the other end of the spectrum there are ways to maintain your energy. These are the things and people that invigorate us. Energy drains are forceful and involuntary, resulting in your energy bring used for purposes other than your survival. Energy maintenance comes from voluntary and productive actions. It results from helping people freely and doing the things that make you happy.
Some people are energetic about their religion, others about their job, and yet others about certain issues. Most of us only have about 70-80 years (as far as we know) of energy and it is pertinent to know how to best make use of it. Those that die happy are the ones who maintain their energy for their own survival. This doesn’t mean they leave others behind. It simply means that they know their limits, accept their responsibilities, and make the best of what they actually have. They know they aren’t super men but they also know that they can be plenty effective doing what they do best. They know that other people aren’t worth more or less but just as much as themselves.
The maintainer (I’m surprised that’s actually a word) wastes no time with what they have no power over. That list of things includes other people’s emotions and problems, the world at large, and information beyond their scope. They are open to the world without being weighed down by it, they are productive and take care of themselves while remaining generous, and they treasure their time on earth because they know the clock is ticking and that their life matters.
What do you think? What are ideas, issues, or things that detract from your energy, your spirit? What are the things that energize you and how can you make it better? Did you ever feel like you had to save the world? How can you effectively help others and take care of yourself at the same time? Which areas of your life could use some maintenance?
February 19, 2013
Update On My Writing
Wow. Alright, I have been working furiously the past few days assembling a list of all of my interconnected stories. It is not a list of every story I have written or will write. It just includes all of the books and series that fit together. It is amazing, and I hope it helps the readers understand better how it all works together and what is yet to come. It represents a puzzle of sorts and I hope people find it useful. I will be including it in all of my published books from now on as an introduction. My published works have all been updated and should be available within the next day or two. Meanwhile, sneak on over to goodreads and read the entire Allison Dutch series for free. It will be available in its entirety until I publish The Black Tree. Then I make only one book at a time available as I publish the rest of that series.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4539313.Mich_n_Neal
I will return to the Integrity Posts in the next few weeks. I have such wonderful new insights and I’d love to share them with you. Please bear with me. I must take every moment I can to work on my stories, for I am a writer. If any of you are, you know that when inspiration strikes it hunts you down and beats you until you do its bidding. Please send good vibes my way. This is the largest project I have ever done.
February 9, 2013
WHAT IS LIFE? A 21st CENTURY PERSPECTIVE | Edge.org
So many implications. As Venter described the way that DNA, ribosomes, yeast, bacteria, and chemicals worked my mind lit on fire. Imagine the day where they can physically manipulate DNA, rNA, and everything else by standing in a digital cloud. It will be like the screens in Minority Report, except encompassing, with them waltzing through it, shrinking and enlarging the protein as needed. His idea at the end about sending digital copies instead of presently living humans to far-distant galaxies sounds like the beginnings of that machine from John Carter. But I wonder, if we send them, how will we send the memories? Chemists seem to be pushing out the biologists as he mentioned, yet there’s still much interdisciplinary gain to be had by linking up with neuroscientists, psychologists, and all of the disciplines in between. How do we connect the chain from DNA to the human mind? Ah, I’m so eager for the next decades of research in all of these areas!
WHAT IS LIFE? A 21st CENTURY PERSPECTIVE | Edge.org.
U.S. Gun Murders in 2010: an Alternative View
Reblogged from Globalization & Capitalism:
How many gun murder victims in the U.S. are black? How many were killed with hand guns (and not with the now fiercely debated assault rifles)? U.S. Gun Murders in 2010 by Periscopic combines function and beauty to examine the data retrieved from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Report. Its main goal consist of encouraging people to consider individual lives instead of just the statistic…
A beautiful, haunting graph of individuals dying from gun shot wounds.
