Third Reality of Man Ch 7 _ Dancing all around me hat...

At this point the question must be posed: just what differentiates some social structure of convenience from a collective entity, a thing with a life of its’ own? This is a deep question for which there must be some framework of an answer for any meaningful investigation to proceed concerning a new progression of evolution based on life forms which already perceive themselves as, to greater or lesser degree, self aware.

The framework I would propose is based on the assumption that unlike a structure of convenience a genuine collective entity will demonstrate a survival instinct comparable to that of the individual entities which participate as elements of the collective mind. 

That which is alive wishes to remain alive, that which is alive will act to preserve it’s own life in the form wherein it achieved consciousness. The larger structure will sacrifice elements of the lesser in the cause of self preservation, it will act to create other entities of the same sort as itself in order that its’ form of life not be extinguished should the original or parent life come to an end. From this as a beginning it should follow that a collective entity may be discerned from a structure of convenience by the tenure of that structure considered relative to the well being of the individuals within. 

Kudos to the Artist - or - Why use acetylene when sarcasm works better?

I resemble this picture. Well, to be more precise, my life and skills set resembles this picture. You think I jest, but no, I'm really quite serious.

No idea who created this, not a clue... but whoever you are? Good Job!!!
(lol... go figure, it's for sale on Amazon... O'Rielly's Auto has a listing for
flux capacitors, the little ones and out of stock of course,  maybe Amazon has
the big one's in stock... I think my second hand Tardis needs one, in spite of every effort
to tune it it's been annoyingly landing 7% off set point for a while now. )

I'm part of that group that is seldom mentioned, often recruited for the dirty jobs, never mentioned in the higher echelons of society and quite the taboo among the academics. In other words, I'm self educated and I distinctly resemble that knife.

To be a bit more specific, a bit more literal? What I am is a walking proof of social bigotry in the education establishment.

A child of gypsy parents I was never in one place long enough to ever fit in, a perpetual outsider watching the others and suffering their contempt for my lack of understanding. Here and now I want to say thank you to all those socially adept little assholes who made my life a living hell, were it not for you and your flock-based sheople mentality I would not be half so tempered, I wouldn't have half the perception I have now. Thank You.

I equally want to express my gratitude to the many, many iterations of the public school systems I was positioned to observe across that journey into adulthood. Were it not for your well meaning and totally inept efforts to forcibly integrate me into the society of the moment I wouldn't have had the base-stock data to understand how your society is structured, how it exercises its' control and coercion over the sheople inmates it holds as collateral on the power it loans to its' governing bodies.

You didn't mean to, of course you didn't, but the fact is your hypocrisy and mock compassion did a better job of blowing the cover off their lies than any amount of C4 or dynamite might have accomplished. After watching you guys work understanding the Liberal and Conservative posturings of perpetually dysfunctional perversion  is a walk in the park by comparison. I'm not knocking them, they're doing the best they can for their causes allowing for what they have to work with which really isn't much. Mind you, I didn't say it makes for a good nights sleep, but still, a useful thing to understand. Thank you.

To be self educated is to understand the commonalities rather than the differences, it is an exercise in education by weighted analogy. It is an exercise in realizing that where the component parts and pieces of any two systems (within their respective academic categories) are usually totally unrelated there is, in fact, often a solid comparison to be had by examining the changes of state as analogous motives find energy to express themselves into reality.

To be self educated is to realize that when the analogous motives and forces are synchronized to provide a common base line the behavior of the human dynamic often shows a striking similarity to the behavior of systems governed by the laws of physics. An example of this? If you truly understand the operation of a Diesel engine you have the component pieces to understand the driving causes behind the engine that powers social evolution, aka,  cultural revolution against the status quo.

To be self educated is to perpetually attempt to widen one's field of perception in order there be more examples available from which to harvest and distill the comparisons into accurately weighted analogies. It makes for an interesting life. Not always a comfortable one, but never boring, and in the end when you examine yourself in the same manner you examine your world it is quite possible you, like I, will realize how much you really have in common with that knife.

Enjoy your day, we never know if we really have a tomorrow or not.

A Day Off... or, idle hands are what?

There are places in Escherville you want to think three times before you enter...
if you enter it's at your own risk. There are those who haunt such places whose
only existence is based on the souls they steal... no matter what they look like.

Sue me, I took today off. Things were starting to blur, blend, nothing was moving forward. This retirement thing is gonna kill me if I'm not careful. I was always an overtime hog, now there's nothing to let me know how many days in a row I've tossed my brain up against walls high and hard with the full intent of forcing a passage. Most of the time if I can't blast a hole through some wall I manage to build a scaffold to get over it, I have a pretty good track record all things allowed for. But for the life of me I don't know why I do it, I've never known why. I just see the problem and say "well, maybe..." and then the rest of my world takes that to mean I've got the answer on tap ready to toss out on the table. How little they know of what kind of effort it takes.

Somehow I think it's some sort of phase inverted anti-hero thing, half ego trip and half penance for being able to make the attempt. So many seem so helpless, and I never know, never have. Are they really that helpless, or are they just faking it to set a guilt trip on me so I'll do it for them? I don't know. Probably never will.

So, since I don't know? Today I said fuck it, and just played. I didn't write on any of the four works of fiction underway, I didn't do any design work, not on the air conditioner that will run net negative energy footprint on the ecosphere, didn't touch a thought involving the thermocharger system for the old VW to put him up in the 35 mpg range,  didn't even open the CADD file where there's this odd little project underway to design a modular structural system to set up stand alone little houses that run off grid so clean they're legal in wilderness areas. Nope, I didn't.

The lil' house thing would be a lot easier if the spec wasn't that the individual modules (that can gang together to make a portable village) didn't have to be a highway legal load riding a flatbed float behind a big pickup. I shouldn't bitch, allowing for the ecofreakiness of those who might be interested I'm lucky they're letting me have a nasty old gas guzzling torque monster of a one ton dually. I'm betting the purists among them would rather use a ten head mule team, and pick up every turd from the trail to use as compost. They mean well, even if the net effect of what they're talking about would in a matter of two generations have drug the USA kicking and screaming back into the brutal and brutish lifestyle of an early 18th century peasant.  I guess it's my job to see to it that doesn't happen, if I can. I suppose that's why I do it, I might be able to hold a line somewhere mid twentieth century for 'em. Left on their own devices I don't want to see what would be left.

Anyway, I said fuck it about ten pm last night, so my day off will be over here in a few hours. Think I'll nose back in by going to the greasy spoon and going back to work editing on what I've had in the can for over a decade that should have gone to the publishers long ago. Gotta have something out there with some kind of potential to generate some coins or all the rest of it is wasted effort in the final accounting.

Catch you later. I still got four hours. :-]

Visions along the way...

This is what happens when I listen to good blues... sober.  

You would think that after all these years I'd know better.

But I don't. I refuse to. 

Sometimes the blues are the only thing I feel, and that?

That is the most dangerous time there is to be drinking.

Not a terribly safe time to be painting, or reading poetry,

but a totally bad time to be drinking.