G.F. Smith's Blog, page 2

It's Only 1/3 Our Fault Then...Right?

By G. F. Smith

(Original Publish Date: 10-21-11)

 

Nature vs. Nurture, we've all heard the term. In short, it means that we--including those of the animal kingdom--were born a certain way and therefore are, or, behave a certain way...by our very nature. But then on the other side of the proverbial coin it's stated that we behave certain ways due to how we were brought up--nurtured--by our parents, grandparents along with the influences of our respective environments.

 

I was reading a new book that just came out by one of my author friends recently (A Dark and Bloody Ground: Reaping the Whirlwind). It's a historically accurate Civil War Novel about the battle for Kentucky. It got me thinking again about another blog post of mine: Life, Death, Memetic Encoding...How are you Bent?

 

Some of us in history have been (and still are) pretty bent.

 

Nature and nurture, though, only make up two thirds of the story. As we grow and mature we realize that we--our Minds--have a choice in the matter. Right? We can choose to travel an alternative path, or deviate from certain inherent propensities that we may have found ourselves naturally on, or governed by. We still have choices. Right?

 

Take prejudice for instance. All can attest that our world-society, on varying scales, still pre-judges others by certain ambiguous criteria: race, color, class, nationality, religious affiliation, education, age, affluence, etc... It's a long list, actually. But we in modern society have some fortunate influences to help us understand better, to help us see with bigger eyes, and therefore make better choices. Right? It's called the News...

 

An Excerpt from my third book: Subjected: the Predicate:

    ...then waved his hand again, this time with vigorous force. Instantly a large portion of screens began displaying other contemporary, real-time scenes around the globe. Without warning, at least two dozen large cities erupted in utter chaos and destruction: first New York, then Paris, then Sidney; Beijing, Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur, Nepal, Moscow, Toronto, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and Munich, on and on. All were near-simultaneously erupting in sudden bedlam and pandemonium.

    Gigantic explosions now roared and ripped at the cities.

    Enormous black clouds could be seen violently rolling outwards from the centers of them, instantaneously divesting them of life with the force of hurricanes.

    Millions of people were seen burning and screaming and thrashing about trying to get some strange sort of sticky, fiery, black burning ooze off of their flesh as they became engulfed by it.

    But they couldn't.

    It was some force, some thing that had never been seen on the Earth before. It was like black fire...liquefied evil. And it was suddenly consuming everything in its path.

    It was happening so quickly. Daniel nearly turned to stone at the sight

    "Now you are beginning to see!" he started again.

    "Now you are beginning to understand

    "Just what you are...and who you are...and what you are a part of!" He yelled, as he paced the stage floor.

    The boy inside the diamond watched helplessly, not being able to turn his head, or shut his eyes. The unseen forces still held him taut. His face was white, and he was trembling violently with waves of abhorrence at what he was seeing. He watched powerlessly as those suffering in the black fire developed huge blisters on their arms and faces, as if the water in their skin had begun to boil and froth and steam.

    He watched them vomit, and convulse, and hold themselves. He then watched as their human flesh began sliding off their bones, falling to the ground, mere pieces of who they used to be. The boy became sick, and he himself started to vomit. Tears washed down his cheeks. Again he tried desperately to turn away, but he couldn't.

    Nor could Daniel.

Most of us in the world watch the news programs that parade their way into our lives with only a modicum of personal association. But it's understandable. Suffering, death, and destruction--the abhorrent side of humanity--are difficult things to sit down to dinner with on our TV's, engaging us as we enjoy the fruits of our often difficult daily labors. Most watch briefly, though often routinely, to gather an idea of what may be happening in the world that given day, and then after dinner sit down to a nice evening of entertainment where we know in the back of our heads that what we are watching are merely Hollywood simulations

 .

But, a huge percentage of people in the world live their daily lives amongst the suffering, the destitute, and the dying. It's just a fact of nature...and nurture.

 

My grandmother once told me that, "We can't save the entire the world...only our little part of it." She was right. God bless you Grandma! Sorry for not visiting you as much as I should have.

 

History is replete with stories of the effects and consequences of Nature vs. Nurture, and of the people who have ended up a certain way because that was the way they were raised, and those were the times--the conditions--that they found themselves in: Pharaohs, Kings and Generals, Pontificates, Prime Ministers and Presidents, paupers and peasants alike, the list goes on.

 

What are we to make of all this? For those of us who are setting in our living rooms, on our porches, or at our desks, or wherever, we are individuals, yes, but we are also part of a collective world. But then again, we can't save the whole world. Right? Heck, I sometimes feel that I can't even make it through a whole day serving my employer, and my family. How in the world can I save the whole world?

 

Again, my grandma was right.

 

All we can do is save our little part of it. We may be products of the nature we were born from and the nurturing we received while we were here. But there's still that third part of the equation that can make a huge difference, in everything...

 

G. F. Smith

Why Write, Play, Work...Why Do Anything?

By G. F. Smith

 

Let's say you're participating in a Sport. Have you ever felt one of those grand moments when you're simply in-the-Zone? When beyond all odds or comprehension you make that move, that play, or that shot, and you feel that there's a bigger connection, something bigger than you, one which leaves you--at least for a few remarkable moments--in a state of amazement or perhaps awe? I've felt that way playing Golf before, on the few occasions that I have played, making shots where my resulting comments (along with my companions) were: "No...Freaking...Way!" In truth, I'm really bad at the sport, but I've heard others say, that that is what keeps them coming back to the game in the first place. Even though Golf is, what has to be, the most frustrating game ever to be invented.

 

Sort of like Life itself, depending on how you look at it!

 

Ever feel that way at work? When you feel so in control of the "system" that you almost feel like a King lording over it, as if it were all child's play? You know what I mean? Like...like your efforts--at least at that time--are effortless. Or that the good coming from what you're doing is somehow so keen and evident in your mind that you feel that sort of lofty, perhaps humbly magnanimous feeling? Or what you feel when you, and the team that you're working with, become that enviable, non-stoppable, winning force of change?

 

All humans experience moments like these, those in-the-Zone times when we feel empowered, in control and even...purposeful, like the Universe has, for a time, given us a gift of sorts, and we are magically lofted above the frustration-filled mundane. These are the moments we live for. It's what's behind the phrases we use when we say: "It's what I do! This is my life! This is who I am!"

 

However, for many, those moments are few and far between...sparse even. When we're in those in-between dry times, we often feel stagnant, impotent, and purposeless even. We equate those times with boredom, monotony, and weariness. When we experience this, we often lose perspective. And, if it goes on too long, our sense of connection, contribution...even faith, that who we are, and what we are, has meaning, and that there's a reason for us being here, and for what we have chosen to do in life.

 

I've been suffering from a touch of writer's block lately, as all writers do...stressing about it, actually. Then, along comes a Blog Post (from another Blog I follow) asking the question: Why Do You Write? Those few words were so appropriate and stirring (for me at the time, you see) that I felt like it was one of those ethereal answers from that sometimes separate, yet  internally-crying voice which daily seems to ask: Why are you here? What are you doing? What's your reason...your motivation...your purpose?

 

As I thought about it all again, my mind began to settle down and revisit just why it is I do feel compelled to write.

 

The answer: I simply become enlivened to life and purpose when I get that little in-the-Zone feedback from people who say that in reading my words, they, at that critical moment, needed to think those thoughts, feel those emotions, and/or learn that particular lesson. That the words somehow inspired them, and that they were lifted up and--if even for a moment--were changed, or enhanced, or were in some way convinced that the timely uplifting was propagated beyond all coincidence, or happenstance, and was meant as an answer...to their humble,  heartfelt frustrations and supplications.

 

Knowing that my contributions can--and do (at given times)--get used in the Universe's mysterious yet, continuing creation and animation (like a player in a big cosmic game)...well, that's what keeps me writing and working and playing.

 

So...Game On!

 

(Thanks Cynthia!)

 

Feel free to share one of your in-the-Zone, or timely moments or experiences, if you'd like...

 

(and Check out Cynthia Robertson's Blog here, or under Blogs I Recommend...)

 

 

Was Everything That Happened to Us in the Past...Our Destiny?

By G. F. Smith

 

This is going to be a relatively short Blog Post, reason being that the title itself is enough to bend the old mind in a host of different configurations as we try to encompass just exactly what the question is.

 

Is everything meant for a Reason?

Is Life Predetermined?

What is Destiny?

 

I once read--I can't remember where--that we in fact "...never catch up with destiny." Destiny is something that is always in the future. As soon as we get there, it becomes the past, and a new destiny awaits us. Again, another mind-bender, it's like trying to determine (or define) the exact line between past and future--what makes up the NOW.

 

Is the NOW contained within a single second of time...perhaps, a half a second...a quarter? How about a femtosecond? Yeah, you heard me--a femtosecond. According to the science world, and Wikipedia, a femtosecond is: "one quadrillionth, or one millionth of one billionth of a second. For context, a femtosecond is to a second what a second is to about 31.7 million years." It's the stuff of Atomic Clocks, Molecular Dynamics and the like.

 

The point is...a point in time.

 

How far can you divide a fraction of time until you can't divide it any more? Would that be the dividing lines between past, present and future, or between the NOW and your destiny?

 

CraaaaK! Oops...bent too much. Let's put some duct tape on that and back up a second...(or whatever).

 

Was everything that happened to us in the past our destiny? Everything? The good things, the not-so-good things? What about the mistakes, the miscalculations, the human, day-to-day side of just being-a-being and messing up?

 

I know I tend to say that if something works out for good, especially if it came about after a series of not-so-good occurrences, then I'll say: "it must be...destiny!"

 

Like when, through a series of incongruent and possibly discordant events, you meet somebody--say, that ONE person that you just know you're meant to be together with for the rest of your life. It then becomes...destiny! And then we feel all melty and lightheaded and need to sit down due to the overwhelming feelings of awe thrashing our brains and our nervous systems.

 

But that's a good feeling, isn't it...awe?

 

A component of awe being the feeling we get at observing something that is so beyond-the-odds, that it must be destiny! And that leads us to this: Is destiny synonymous with design? By saying that, are we saying that things have been pre-determined, previously planned, deliberately set in motion, by...something?

 

Is there destiny...design? What parts of our past can be considered to be a fulfillment, or arrival at that particular destiny. And if those segments--or points--of time are really only few and far between--like meeting that certain someone, or getting that certain job, or buying that one winning lottery ticket, at that one particular store, at that one particular time, with those particular numbers--what do we make of all the other incidental things that happened to us in the past, or will happen to us tomorrow? Are these NOT our destiny?

 

And if any of it is destiny...isn't all of it destiny? (My duct tape's slipping...)

 

To answer the question--at least this goes for me anyway--I think it's all destiny, the past I mean, and the future. I wouldn't be who I was, or who I am today, without it. And yes, I wouldn't be...who I need to change-for-the-better, tomorrow, without it either.

 

Yeah, I know it's confusing to consider all this. Especially when thinking about all the 2012 chatter about apocalypse and the end of the world. You know what I'm talking about. It's everywhere: books, movies, news...endless graffiti. And many are saying that it's...destiny. But, is it?

 

And did you happen to notice the date of this post--11/11/11? Are you one of those who see those numbers often (1111), like when you glance at a clock, or a serial number, or whatever? Reportedly, there are a lot of us out there who do, for some reason. You wouldn't believe how many 11's I found today in my email subject lines--11 cent Sales, 11 Tips for Writers, 11 Days Left to Apply, etc. And did you hear that on this day, Egypt closed the Pyramid of Kfuhu (Cheops) on fears of ritual rumors, to be held at 11:11am

 

What's it all mean?

 

I don't know? There is a lot to be said about all that self-fulfilling prophecy stuff, for us as individuals, as well as the world.

 

But then again, perhaps we need to understand that, before we can start to believe that we, in fact, can change our destiny. But then, that'd be...by design, now wouldn't it?

 

(Later...gotta go get some more tape!)

 

G. F. Smith

Where is the Tide Taking Me?

Guest Post by Author, Sue McGhee

 

"Confluential" is an intriguing word and defined in the first book of Gary Smith"s Trilogy, "Subjected."

 

Briefly, as explained by his character in the book, it expresses the coming together of various elements, energies and ideas (as in the confluence of rivers) which subsequently influence our thinking and motivations. The word is apt in my own experience and I can easily apply it to my own personal belief system, ground out through the years from Christian dogma (both Catholic and Protestant), Buddhist study, new-age awareness (the law of attraction), Quantum Theory, Yoga and Ayurveda.

 

Have you ever felt the rush of emotion that comes when you visit an historic site for the first time and you feel all goose pimply with awareness? That this is not new, but...memory? That you are filled with the sense of history there, the feel of another time, other lives, other selves? To me this indicates that we've lived more than this life and that we've actually been to this place in another life. Or, that we have a spiritual connection to the people who once inhabited such a place. I doubt there are very many of us who haven't experienced that feeling at one time or another. Those who deny it have probably experienced it but simply ignored it because they are not open to an "irrational" experience.

 

It's happened to me many times so I believe that feeling of awareness has meaning. But is my belief the same as faith? That's for each of us to ask ourselves. For me, faith is the idea that I am an individual soul, linked to others; that we are infinite and part of the same ONE which is God, thus becoming god or god-like in our own manifestations. We are like (individual) drops in the sea of a vast unknown cosmos made up of multiple universes and multiple selves. Alternate selves populate alternate universes. And we are now living multiple existences with multiple ideas and multiple outcomes resulting from multiple decisions.

 

Which brings me back to this idea of the "confluential."

 

Our lives are filled with the unknown and the unknown can be difficult and frightening. Being thrown about at the confluence of rivers and streams and being uncertain about the direction the turbulence will carry us.

 

But this is our opportunity.

 

New places and new ideas begin to reach inside and expand our awareness. We believe that those eerie moments of recognition or familiarity--are real. We grow; we learn. That is where I am, have always been, and will always be: holding to a tree after a tsunami and watching as the tide recedes.

 

It's scary; it's an adventure. It's called life.

 

Sue McGhee

http://www.sue-mcghee.blogspot.com/

 

Sue is an author of several books, and one I especially enjoyed: When the Eagle Flies with the Condor: a Novel of the Sixties. Visit and book mark Sue's blog at the link listed below her name. ~ G. F. Smith

It's Only 1/3 Our Fault Then...Right?

By G. F. Smith

  

Nature vs. Nurture, we've all heard the term. In short, it means that we--including those of the animal kingdom--were born a certain way and therefore are, or, behave a certain way...by our very nature. But then on the other side of the proverbial coin it's stated that we behave certain ways due to how we were brought up--nurtured--by our parents, grandparents along with the influences of our respective environments.

 

I was reading a new book that just came out by one of my author friends recently (A Dark and Bloody Ground: Reaping the Whirlwind). It's a historically accurate Civil War Novel about the battle for Kentucky. It got me thinking again about another blog post of mine: Life, Death, Memetic Encoding...How are you Bent?

 

Some of us in history have been (and still are) pretty bent.

 

Nature and nurture, though, only make up two thirds of the story. As we grow and mature we realize that we--our Minds--have a choice in the matter. Right? We can choose to travel an alternative path, or deviate from certain inherent propensities that we may have found ourselves naturally on, or governed by. We still have choices. Right?

 

Take prejudice for instance. All can attest that our world-society, on varying scales, still pre-judges others by certain ambiguous criteria: race, color, class, nationality, religious affiliation, education, age, affluence, etc... It's a long list, actually. But we in modern society have some fortunate influences to help us understand better, to help us see with bigger eyes, and therefore make better choices. Right? It's called the News...

 

An Excerpt from my third book: Subjected: the Predicate:

    ...then waved his hand again, this time with vigorous force. Instantly a large portion of screens began displaying other contemporary, real-time scenes around the globe. Without warning, at least two dozen large cities erupted in utter chaos and destruction: first New York, then Paris, then Sidney; Beijing, Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur, Nepal, Moscow, Toronto, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and Munich, on and on. All were near-simultaneously erupting in sudden bedlam and pandemonium.

    Gigantic explosions now roared and ripped at the cities.

    Enormous black clouds could be seen violently rolling outwards from the centers of them, instantaneously divesting them of life with the force of hurricanes.

    Millions of people were seen burning and screaming and thrashing about trying to get some strange sort of sticky, fiery, black burning ooze off of their flesh as they became engulfed by it.

    But they couldn't.

    It was some force, some thing that had never been seen on the Earth before. It was like black fire...liquefied evil. And it was suddenly consuming everything in its path.

    It was happening so quickly. Daniel nearly turned to stone at the sight

    "Now you are beginning to see!" he started again.

    "Now you are beginning to understand

    "Just what you are...and who you are...and what you are a part of!" He yelled, as he paced the stage floor.

    The boy inside the diamond watched helplessly, not being able to turn his head, or shut his eyes. The unseen forces still held him taut. His face was white, and he was trembling violently with waves of abhorrence at what he was seeing. He watched powerlessly as those suffering in the black fire developed huge blisters on their arms and faces, as if the water in their skin had begun to boil and froth and steam.

    He watched them vomit, and convulse, and hold themselves. He then watched as their human flesh began sliding off their bones, falling to the ground, mere pieces of who they used to be. The boy became sick, and he himself started to vomit. Tears washed down his cheeks. Again he tried desperately to turn away, but he couldn't.

    Nor could Daniel.

Most of us in the world watch the news programs that parade their way into our lives with only a modicum of personal association. But it's understandable. Suffering, death, and destruction--the abhorrent side of humanity--are difficult things to sit down to dinner with on our TV's, engaging us as we enjoy the fruits of our often difficult daily labors. Most watch briefly, though often routinely, to gather an idea of what may be happening in the world that given day, and then after dinner sit down to a nice evening of entertainment where we know in the back of our heads that what we are watching are merely Hollywood simulations

 .

But, a huge percentage of people in the world live their daily lives amongst the suffering, the destitute, and the dying. It's just a fact of nature...and nurture.

 

My grandmother once told me that, "We can't save the entire the world...only our little part of it." She was right. God bless you Grandma! Sorry for not visiting you as much as I should have.

 

History is replete with stories of the effects and consequences of Nature vs. Nurture, and of the people who have ended up a certain way because that was the way they were raised, and those were the times--the conditions--that they found themselves in: Pharaohs, Kings and Generals, Pontificates, Prime Ministers and Presidents, paupers and peasants alike, the list goes on.

 

What are we to make of all this? For those of us who are setting in our living rooms, on our porches, or at our desks, or wherever, we are individuals, yes, but we are also part of a collective world. But then again, we can't save the whole world. Right? Heck, I sometimes feel that I can't even make it through a whole day serving my employer, and my family. How in the world can I save the whole world?

 

Again, my grandma was right.

 

All we can do is save our little part of it. We may be products of the nature we were born from and the nurturing we received while we were here. But there's still that third part of the equation that can make a huge difference, in everything...

 

G. F. Smith

If You Had Discovered it...Would You Have Shared it with the World?

By G. F. Smith

  

Don't you just love those movies about the guy (or girl) who stumbles upon some big discovery and then spends the rest of the drama bravely trying to either salvage it from destruction, or keep it from the bad guys, or convince the world of its significance, or, on the negative side, keep it hidden, knowing the disruption...the devastation it would cause? We always like to place ourselves in those character's shoes and excitedly--though vicariously--live the adventure, even the conflict that so fundamentally keeps us on the edges of our seats until the final moments and the respective resolution.

 

Think of: The Time Machine, King Kong, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Contact, National Treasure, Final Impact, The Day After Tomorrow or more recently, Transformers, Limitless, and Apollo 18.

 

If you found you had discovered an ancient treasure, or better yet, discovered some esoteric, arcane secret or power...would you choose to share it with the world? Even if you knew it could perhaps stir up a dark side, as well as a bright side?

 

An Excerpt from my second book: Subjected: Parallax:    

    "Granted, this is probably the major discovery in the history of humankind...ever. But something is going on. And it's bigger than us. I've come to think that there's a reason for the existence of this Inhibitor. Somehow, its absence, or a portion of it being absent in people like savants, or geniuses...is just a fluke...maybe a mistake, or in the least, meant only--if at all---for a very select few, and damn sure not for the likes of Markus Way!

    "Sometimes, when I set out here nights, I look up to the stars, and I wonder...why me? Why did I discover it? Me! I don't know. I just don't know. But something tells me that the Inhibitor is supposed to be there, Arthur. It's always been meant to be there. And who am I to mess with that? Who am I?"

    Arthur Winston now realized that his friend had thought himself--and drank himself--into a temporary silence. Now it was his turn.

    "Lee, you may not think so, but I do understand. I've thought the same thoughts; I went down the same path of logic. But you know..." he started, but stopped with his new thoughts. A pensive expression contorted his face. "Have you ever considered this: all the things, Lee, that we have here in this modern age, in the fields of science and medicine...the earth sciences, space sciences, everything that has gone into making our lives better over the last several centuries, it has to be some sort of a natural reduction of the Inhibitor in the first place. Don't you think? I mean, think about it! How did Einstein come up with relativity? The first paper he wrote on the subject had no footnotes, no previous works that he drew upon. It was all original thought. Where did it come from?

    "And...and what about the other countless discoveries people have made throughout history, discoveries about gravity, electromagnetism, spectroscopy, the periodic table of elements, atomic theory, the list goes on. These things existed, have existed, since time eternal, Lee. And then suddenly, out of the blue, someone, like you, comes along, and was somehow raised out of their ignorance and ended up making another new discovery.

    "I don't care if it was from hard work, if it was from a mistake, or if it was intended--propagated by divine intervention, or whatever. The point is...is that it happened. They happened. And we've all reaped the rewards from those things. The planet is reaping the rewards from them! Is that so inherently wrong?

    "Listen," Arthur continued. "I understand that this could be used the wrong way. I acknowledge that. But it's no different than anything else that's happened along over the course of the centuries. The science of metallurgy created knives to cut food with, yes...and to kill and make war with. The science of the subatomic has given us vast knowledge of matter and energy.

    "Think of the countless things that have come from that, which aid humanity, from breakfast to buildings, radios to...to radiation therapy. And yes, it has also been used to create the most powerful weapons ever conceived. But Lee, all of these things are inherently neutral. It's..." Arthur was abruptly interrupted.

    "Exactly, it's been used to kill thousands of people, millions of people," Levi Tolliver retorted. "Those things you just mentioned, they've all been used to pollute the planet, create untold suffering for millions, killed and maimed because they were wielded by twisted despotic people who want to be God.

    "And yes, they have changed things, sometimes for the better, granted. But how do you balance that? How can one or two people make those choices? Because it just exists all of a sudden, does it make it right for those one or two people--us--to be left to make choices like this? I'm not sure about that!" he said angrily, heavily. So heavily that his voice became scratchy, coarse, and tears welled up in his eyes as he said it. He tried to say more, but he couldn't. 

 I know what your answer probably is to the above: "Well...it depends on what it is!"

Yeah, that's my answer, too. All this makes me think about stuff like: whether the governments of the world really know that life forms--Aliens--exist outside our lonely little planet, and have, or are still visiting us! Or if they know that a Comet or Asteroid is going to hit the Earth in the future, on a specific date, or that the Sun's going to blow up! Or if they really do know that clean, inexhaustible, and safe energy is available now! Or, if they know that we have all been lied to for centuries and are being manipulated by some Secret Society that herds us around like sheep, using us for slave labor, deviant sexual gratification, or...or gourmet food sources, or...or...  

Wow, I'm getting a little Hollywood-ish here, aren't I?

Regardless, all the above would change things beyond comprehension. Knowledge of such things would dislodge reality to such a degree that one would have to weigh the ultimate costs of the good, along with the bad, in choosing to release it--whatever it is--onto the general public.

I don't know if I'd truly want full disclosure on some of these things, come to think about it. Afterwards, movies and popcorn and York Peppermint Patties just wouldn't have the same...appeal.

G. F. Smith

What is an Existentialist-Mathematician's favorite Adage?

By G. F. Smith

"Whaaat?" You say! Yeah, I know...odd question, but, there's a simple, however multi-faceted answer. Read the following excerpt from my third book, SUBJECTED: the Predicate:

How did it come to this?

What could he do?

What could he change in history to steer the world away from the genocide that was about to sweep the Earth?

Nothing, nothing, he could think of nothing.

He was too old to even try any more.

Too old, and tired, and although his spirit, at least in part, was still willing, his flesh was weak, weaker than it had ever been before. He suddenly felt like a child, an ignorant, feeble, lost and frightened child.

Then, his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"What is an Existentialist-Mathematician's favorite adage?"

The voice was soft, its tone textured with comedic nuance, followed by an ever-so-slight nasal snicker.

Daniel's thoughts, having been momentarily hushed by the sudden intrusive resonance, quickly recognized, not only the voice, but the peculiarity of the verbiage, along with its terse, and familiar delivery.

Daniel turned to look, although he knew what he would see before his eyes settled from their abrupt motion. As his aged eyes focused, his intuitive assumptions proved him correct. Before him, in one of the winged, high-backed guest chairs facing his desk, sat Professor Timorous Vector.

As Daniel's eyes locked on his, the man's eyebrows twitched inquisitively as if to ask the question again. He had that look of childish innocence on his face. An overexcitement coupled with impatience and potentially-explosive giddiness, revealed through his smiling eyes and his nervous fingers as they tapped each other in front of his chin.

The sight molded Daniel's reaction and his demeanor into the very opposite of what he was, only seconds before, feeling. He smiled, not only at the question, but at the ridiculousness of the behavior. He couldn't help it.

"Hello, Professor. It's been awhile..." Daniel said. After a short pause, he voiced the same question in the form of his own question: "'what is an...Existentialist-Mathematician's favorite adage?'"

The diminutive man smiled largely. Holding up the index finger on his right hand as he gave the answer:

"It's the thought...that counts!"

He then broke out into raucous flightiness, slapping his hands on his knees and twitching his legs around like a school boy who had to pee.

Daniel smiled again.

He got it, he concluded. At least he had the notion he did.

Thought...Existentialist, Count...Mathematician. Then for some reason he remembered what he'd thought just a few days earlier, the words of the wise man: As a man thinketh...so is he! Then, his mind looked at it from another perspective. And then another came to him, and then yet another.

"Several ways of thinking about it, isn't there?" the Professor said. "A gift may not mean much materially, but the intent of the heart may mean volumes." His eyes fell on the books on the shelf beside Daniel. "Or, it's our thoughts that measure--weigh, determine, add things up for us, even...create things for us...through our thoughts. Or, that we are only...our thoughts."

 

As a man thinketh...so is he.

What we decide in our minds and determine with our thoughts often-times becomes our reality, especially if we think about it hard enough and long enough. That goes for the accurate and the inaccurate, the right or wrong, the good...and the bad.    

The hard part is determining which end of the spectrum to lean towards. I guess that's one of the basic definitions of Existentialism:  

     ex.is.ten.tial.ism \'eg-zis-"ten-ch-'li-zm\ n : a philosophy centered on individual existence and personal responsibility for acts of free will in the absence of certain knowledge of what is right or wrong --ex.is.ten.tial.ist \-list\adj or n

     (c)2000 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.  All rights reserved.

 

"What!" Yeah, again...I know, odd. In essence, what it means is that we can choose the meaning, as an individual. It's as we choose to think about it, whatever it is.

But, then again, the philosophy can get us into real trouble.

A lot of people think that they can do, act, and behave however they want, simply because they choose to, because they choose to think that way. And, they do so with little or no moral or ethical acknowledgement, repudiating even the thoughts of right or wrong, because they say that they are justified because there is no right or wrong, that the models of right or wrong are only concepts that are man-made, completely subjective.

Granted, there is some truth to that, but...

There has always been a line drawn. That's what the countless wars of history have been fought over. Why people have sacrificed their lives to stand up for those absolutes according to how they have thought, or presently choose to think about something.    

That's the hallmark of humanity. That we not only choose to think about something--a certain way--but that we stand up and fight for that cause, whatever that cause may be.    

Is right and wrong really so subjective?

I suppose in a lot of ways...it is. There are, as I've mentioned in some of my other Blog Posts, a lot of gray areas:  

Evolution or Creation...                                      

War on drugs or Legalization...

Pro-life or Pro-choice...                                     

Global warming or Cooling...

Pacifism or Extremism...                                   

Conservatism or Liberalism...

Consumerism or Environmentalism...              

Nationalism or One World-ism...

War or Peace...                                                  

Life or Death...  

 

I'm sure we all wish it was a lot easier, more cut-and-dry. But, it appears it isn't. And we're all facing a future that in many ways is unparalleled in history. I don't even need to mention the many challenges facing the up and coming generations...my kids and my grandkids...yours.

It is they who will inherit the World we'll leave them...the world we've collectively thought up.

So, I ask. Help me out here when you get a minute, and...think about it! Thanks...

G. F. Smith

10/11/11

 

The One Thing Everyone in the World Thinks About...Every Day?

 

By G. F. Smith

CONTROL! Yes...control! I'm not talking about being the "boss" of others, or of becoming a puppeteer over your friends, or partners, or coworkers. Nor am I talking about world domination. Not even the James Bond, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rambo, or MacGyver type of control over harrowing situations of mayhem, imprisonment, pending torture or death.

But then again, that'd be cool if you needed it, I'd imagine.

No. What I'm talking about here is the control that, again, everyone--including me--thinks about every day of our lives: Control...over our lives.

The ability to, among other things:

Sleep when we want, wake when we want...

Eat what we want...

Be with whom we want...

Work where we want, play where we want...

Believe how we want...

To basically control whatever it is we want, when, where, how, and if we want!

 

Prologue from my first book- SUBJECTED: Eye of God:

"Yes, that is the one thing everyone wants beyond all others...control! The desire results from a natural inclination," he said, shifting his gaze slightly before continuing.

"From an infant's first breath, to the dyings' last, the yearning underlies every hunger, wish, prayer, and aspiration. It is the quest of life itself...to garner control. To have our needs, wants, desires, yes even our dreams, fulfilled. However, I sense you've convinced yourself that, for you, these challenges are insurmountable?"

Although he spoke with an authoritative tone, his mercurial blue eyes exuded genuine empathy. He stood silent for a brief moment studying the pain and frustration that haunted the young man's eyes.

"I assure you, you are not alone," he continued. "There are reasons, exceedingly important reasons for your position...for everyone's position!" He paused again. His eyebrows now sat lower.

"Experience, knowledge, understanding...wisdom, through time, award us measures of control. Yet, it is the epitome of irony, I would agree, that it seemingly takes a lifetime of struggle to gain even a semblance of control, only to be lost in the end to the inexorable effects of entropy, decay...death?" He spoke the last part mockingly as a question, and with clinched lips slowly shook his head side to side, letting out a pithy laugh through his nose.

Then, perceiving the young man's disheartened thoughts, the distinguished figure suddenly smiled knowingly. 

"Yes, well...what if we were to sufficiently illustrate for you the inherent purpose? Might you choose to participate then?"

 

Control is a life-long venture. Some seem to gain it effortlessly; yet with others, it's such a struggle that as a consequence they find themselves eventually succumbing to its inherent and debilitating frustrations, largely giving up the good fight, resigning themselves to lesser lives of success and accomplishment, and hence, lesser value, self-esteem...purpose.

But, that's the way control is--it's difficult to control.

Make a wrong decision here, a calamity happens there, then before you know it, or see it coming, SLAP! You're knocked out of control. And a lot of the time--probably the majority of the time--it's not even your fault. It's just that, well, in the profound words of one of our modern-day sages (Forest Gump), "**it happens."

You're trudging along, doing the best you can, and then suddenly something changes: tragedy, bad luck, loss, oversight, a mistake, etc. You may have seen it coming, whatever it was, at least to some degree, but you didn't have the luck, the necessary attributes, the qualities or characteristics, the time, or the intestinal fortitude to wrestle it back under your control.

It's happened to you, I'm sure. None of us are perfect.

It happens to everybody. And when it happens it can cause disillusionment, cynicism, depression, even moral regression. The unemployment lines, the poor neighborhoods, the soup kitchens, the broken families, the mental hospitals, on and on, around the globe and in every culture, are full of people who inadvertently inherited or suddenly found that they couldn't control the situations they found themselves in--whether they deserved it or not.

It all sounds pretty negative, I know. But that's not the theme of this post. What is, exactly?

Again...Control!

What it all boils down to is the individual; it's on our shoulders. A burden we all ultimately carry simply by being human. It is an unfortunate reality of life, I know! Yet ironically, we are still the deciding factor here!

It all depends on how we choose to look at it, think about it...deal with it. 

Control over our lives does not necessarily equate to success in a particular endeavor. It does not necessarily mean that a loss, or tragedy, or mistake, or oversight, or whatever can, in a course of events, be avoided. Loss of control over situations or circumstances is one thing, loss of control over our selves, as a consequence, is something altogether different.

So, what truly is control, and where can we tap this highly coveted resource? Well, it's not in your intestines. And it's not in your muscles. And it's definitely not a product of mere chance, although all these things do somewhat factor into the equation.

Control...literally, is empowerment of our Mind and Spirit!

Just ask any veteran who has survived a war...

Just ask any friend who has tragically lost a loved one...

Just ask any neighbor who has lost their job, their savings, their home...

Just ask any EMT, Law Enforcement Officer, or Fireman who's seen first-hand how accidents, disaster, or neglect can utterly destroy lives...

Just ask any recovering alcoholic or addict who's just made it through their first thirty days...

Just ask any elderly person who fights daily to retain their dwindling mental and physical dexterities...

Or, just ask any terminal patient...who is about to die!

Ultimately, it seems true control finds its empowerment through something we have, throughout the ages, collectively labeled...faith.

Faith that, if we seek to do our very best, it will all work out...

Faith that, perhaps, there's a bigger reason for the things that happen to us...

Faith that, the frustrations, the uncertainties, the disparities, the tragedies, the mysteries, even the pain and loss and sorrow, all have something to teach us...

Faith that, even if utter chaos ensues, we can retain our control...

Now then, where does faith come from? Well, you're going to have to decide that one for yourself!

Something to think about today!

G. F. Smith

 

Alzheimer's: Losing Our Minds', or Just the Connections?

 

By G. F. Smith

 

This post has a more personal and sensitive facet to it, more so than all the others. It has to do with my Mom...and the disease known as Alzheimer's.

Briefly, my mother has, for many years now, chosen to live in a retirement community in southern Florida, far away from the cold environs of the upper latitudes. 

She's been happy there for many decades, even after her husband--my stepfather--passed on some time ago. Due to my own circumstances I'd only travel down there every couple years or so to see her. Phone calls were our means of communication and sharing. She never liked technology much; her TV was the extent of that--she never even wanted a VCR, much less a DVD Player, and especially not a computer and email.

No amount of asking, encouraging, or begging to return to her home state ever proved fruitful. She was adamant when it came to staying where she was--it was her home, she'd always say. She lived in a small, albeit very nice, mobile home in a quaint, park-like setting. Although nearly 83 years of age she still drove and shopped and took care of her own needs. Though she kept to herself--as she'd always done--she had great neighbors and some good friends she'd talk with often.

Whenever we'd talk, or whenever the other relatives up here would talk with her, she'd relate that she was doing fine, enjoying her days. She rarely complained--only an "I don't feel so good some days," always followed with, "but I'm fine...just getting old."

I recently returned from Florida--Mom wasn't fine, not even okay!

Thank God, and God bless her neighbors and the people who finally noticed what was happening. As it turned out, my Mom was living in squalor. Completely the opposite of what she'd related. I will not go into details. That's not the point of this post. 

My Mother is now being taken care of in a wonderful nursing home by a team of highly professional and highly wonderful people. The reason: My Mom has Alzheimer's. 

What is a Mind...with Alzheimer's? 

As I posted in another recent Blog entry, "We know what we know, and are what we are, because of the memes handed down to us from the past." (You might find the post interesting reading.) 

We are our memories--these are how memes are stored. Simply, we are the culmination of our experiences; we are the information fed to us by our senses, and recorded in our little computer brains.  

Alzheimer's short circuits all that. That's what happened to my Mom. 

Simply, the cause of Alzheimer's is a plaque-like substance (on a molecular scale) which coats and consequently disrupts the transference of electrical signals that the trillions of neurons in our brains use to connect and therefore communicate with each other. When this happens, memory becomes clouded as if a blinding fog settles in the mind, and the once-easily-conferred relationships and associations that create and perpetuate our memories--and therefore who we are--progressively deteriorates and become no more. In other words, we forget what we know, and eventually, who we are. 

So, what constitutes a person...just our memories? 

In accordance with the physics of all this, some brains--those of geniuses for instance--have connections and associations that are far more capable than all the super-computers in the world combined. On the other end of the scale, some brains can barely function above the involuntary level--scarcely keeping the organs functioning. All of us--whether we have Alzheimer's, or something else--exist somewhere within this spectrum.

Are we more than just our memories? I'd like to think so. I do...think so. Let me apply an analogy:

What if we--as individuals--are like desktop computers? Inherent to our design we enjoy a certain level or power, capacity, memory: random access and hard drive--short-term and long-term memory. We have operating systems, and operating speeds, and a certain capability for internal as well as external cross-functionality and multi-tasking.  

Hence, we can download and upload information. Information that adds to who we are, as well as information that we can share, of which adds to others. And, if we are technologically advanced enough, and if we choose, we can intermix with all those other entities out there in the cyber-world through the internet (human interaction). That is if we haven't broken down yet and lose the will, or the knowledge of just how to do it.  

Weird things happen when we start to break down. We can lose those ever-identifying associations and connections. As a result, we may disregard health, safety, environment--even friends and family. We may completely forget who we are, where we are, and where we were going. We may lose our humanity, as well as our faith.

Is this all there is, though? I mean, really...?  

Personally, I don't think so! I believe our primary selves--our cores--dwell somewhere other than just within our little chemical, biological brains. Our brains run on electricity. Electricity is energy. Energy, science tells us, is forever. I think when we were born we just donned a bio-mechanical suit (body). And when something like Alzheimer's hits, it's merely a malfunction in the circuitry, a temporary loss of connections, somewhere up there in the operating system (brain).

The reality--the essence--of who we are is still there. The windows may have been temporarily shaded, the doors closed, the connections fogged, or perhaps even severed. But, the energy--the entity--the Spirit--is still there. This is truly what we are.  

Someday, we'll make the connection...

I love you Mom!

 

G. F. Smith

 

 

 

 

Life, Death, Memetic Encoding...How Are You Bent?

 

By G. F. Smith

 

We know what we know, and are what we are, because of the memes handed down to us from the past. What are memes you ask? 

 

Read on, this is actually pretty fascinating:

 

Memes are the ubiquitous cultural streams of ideas, concepts, beliefs, and collectively propagated "norms" that humanity has developed and disseminated throughout history. Experts say they mimic genes in the body in that they pass on information, traits, even predispositions, through culture, the human senses, and hence, from mind to mind and generation to generation. Again, much like genes do physical traits in our bodies.

 

And, just as genes are responsible for what we look like, how we are shaped, and how healthy we are, among other things; memes are responsible for the inherent individuality in our minds, our psychologies, and our characters. That's why some people prefer jeans over suits, Camaros over Mustangs, Bach over Zeppelin, Sponge Bob over the Avengers, one genre of book, or movie, or medium, etc., over another, or...Science over Faith.

 

When you look at this phenomenon from the larger, historical perspective, there are certain memes that have proved dominant in our thinking. Some examples: 

 

Faith...                                                            

Music...

Science...                                                        

Language...

Fashion...                                                       

Laws...

Literature...                                                     

Politics...

Food...                                                           

War...

 

Faith and Science are two of the big ones--some really big ones, actually. Both, as observed through history, have had an enormous impact on humanity, and most especially on our interpretation and evaluation of all the other memes. 

 

In other words, our minds' and intellectual OS's (operating systems) have been, individually and collectively, programmed by these tenaciously authoritarian memetic encodings. And that's why we are what we are; why we think, what we think. That is, until something different comes along--knowledge, discovery, or realization--and hence, changes everything! When that happens, the memes change, and we change. A few examples:

 

Hunters/Gatherers vs. Agriculture...                  

Fingers vs. Tools...

Flat Earth vs. round Earth...                            

Orthodoxy vs. Protestantism...

Ptolemaic vs. Copernican universe...                

Religion vs. Science...

Etc....

 

Enter...the Bent:

 

What's inside us that leans us to one bent, or the other? What establishes the interpretation, the value, the justification for the memes we choose to imitate or adhere to as we journey through life--again, individually and collectively? Is it merely knowledge? Or is it, perhaps, the lack of knowledge? Is it truth, or fact, or just reality as we think we know it at the time? 

 

Why are we so bent to one or the other meme?

Why do some, for instance, choose healthy lifestyles, over those that are not?

Why do some predominantly choose to honor the needs of the individual, over society?

Why do some choose asceticism and sacrifice, over materialism and affluence?

Why do some choose introversion over extroversion?

Why do some go with the flow, while others blaze their own trails?

Why do some lead, while others follow?

 

What is it that truly shifts the proverbial paradigm?

 

History has shown that we go from one dominant set of memes to another, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Are the memes we embrace today the right ones, the correct ones, and by what standards, what criterion? But then again, aren't standards and criterion just other words for other memes?

 

Kind of circular thinking, I know! The point is this:

 

We are wholly different today than we were, say 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000 years ago. The memes that we've been talking about have evolved and changed over time, and consequently, so have we.

 

But then there are all those annoying "gray" areas? You know...

 

Evolution or Creation...                                   

War on Drugs or Legalization...

Pro-life or Pro-choice...                                  

Global Warming or Cooling...

Pacifism or Extremism...                                 

Conservatism or Liberalism...

Consumerism or Environmentalism...               

Nationalism or One World-ism...

War or Peace...                                              

Life or Death...                        

 

I wonder, will we ultimately discover and learn the things we need to define and finally settle all those gray areas? Will we ever be on the same page? Are we meant...to be on the same page? Will the memes that determine who we will be in the distant future, be as radically impactful on us as the ones of the past? Or will they be more so? What if Aliens land? What if Jesus comes back? What if we unfortunately destroy ourselves from madness and hate and war, before we even have the chance to see what's next?

 

Will Dystopia, or Utopia, win out for the Meme of the Day/Era?

 

Your guess is as good as mine. 

 

So, tell me...how are you bent?

 

G. F. Smith