small-changes

You can’t change everything.
You can only change one, small thing.
And that’s all it takes

repost from small-changes

Blog I found and like a lot so far as I have read. The whole post is good by me, but this line sticks out in particular.

"Finally, religion and ethics, which may be fitly called, - the practice of ideas, or the introduction of ideas into life,- have analogous effect with all lower culture, in degradingnature and suggesting a dependence on spirit.

Ralph Waldo Emmerson, Nature

Tipping

I am in the service industry. I live my life off of the generosity of other people. The world is moved by money. Bartering sounds like fun and all, but we have moved into capitalism with gusto at this point. We see the world around us and everything has a pricetag on it. As a member of the industry I tip well. The few times I have gotten into the convorsation about tips and tipping with people I find out that I am a generous tipper, and that means that I am treated well in the bars I go to, it also means I am more likely to be remembered the next time I go in to a place. People that I don't know, people that I will never probably get to know are nice to me. Why? Because as a good tipper I make their shitty, too much work for not enough pay, job worth more to them. They smile and appreciate me just a little more. I am grateful for the chance to brighten someones day. Then there are those people that don't tip. The people that for some reason or another think that we make a living wage and a tip is something special. I want to be a bartender and make a living wage. That would be amazing. But in this lovely state I live in (Utah) The Man says that $2.13 is perfect for servers because they make tips. $2.13/hr isn't enough to pay one bill, let alone all of them. So when I get stiffed by the foreign prick, or the business man that thinks we need to "work a real job if you want to make a wage", or the rich kid that thinks that 10% of the pre-tax nonwine noncorkage bill is "enough" because if you want money then you should be given it, I wonder if they really know. I don't honestly think that 30% every time is necessary, but 15% is an accepted minimum, for service that was everything you wanted, nothing more. 20% if they were helpful/happy to be there/answered questions. Is that really so much to ask?

Isaac Asimov is a cool dude. I am just about done with the last anthology of his works, Gold, and am excited to be reading books written by him. He was one of the worlds most prolific writers 468 nonfiction works (thanks) and 462 somodd nonfiction titles (same source) This is really a way for me to wrap my head around the fact that I am a writer, and to actually call myself that I need to actually write. Hence I will be posting something, here or on my Fiction blog, Gaea, every day. I figure it is a big enough goal that I can start trying to pull a little regiment into my otherwise chaotic life. This does mean I might ramble a bit, but that is why the internet is out there, I am doing this more for exorcise then anything.

Life always seems to come full circle. I wander through this faded haze with the idea that I will do what I "need" to do, that I will figure out my "purpose" and grab it, forever solidifying my spot on this planet and its history. Part of me has woken up. There isn't a purpose, there isn't an answer, there is only the moment, and that is important to realize. We have the now, and it is all that really matters. I don't honestly believe that the world can be run on a minute by minute basis but that is the problem. We have made everything so much about tomorrow, living in the future if you will, that the only thing we can honestly say is that we are constantly running for that proverbial carrot. Then again I don't really think that the future can be written off, in fact I really have a hard time thinking that the future is the only thing that we strive for. If that were true we might not have the climate issues that we have. So let me revise, we stumble blindly into the future not reaching for some carrot, but dragging the dead bodies of everything that has come before us and continuing to pile the slag on. The moment is now. We need a hard reset on history, something needs to change. I just hope that I can be a part of it.

12/09/2009 - Backlog

I am a technodreamer. Or at least that is what I would like to think of myself as. I believe that humanity will make itself better by furthering technology to it's fullest extent, just as long as we don't kill ourselves through something dumb like a war or global catastrophe (global warming anyone?). It seems to me that the gross majority of the worlds problems can be solved by the continued unification of Earth's people. I believe that we can communicate with any other human at any time then after long enough of that then we will find a peaceful way to coexist. Give every person on this planet a cell phone and a laptop and we will have world peace. Huh. Even me saying that here makes it sound like too big a thing to attempt. But I can't accept that. I cannot sit back and believe that we as a species are destined to continue fighting and killing and destroying because eventually there will be nothing or no one left to fight, kill, or be killed by. Eventually if we keep this up we will all be maimed and so bloodied that the will to continue on will be staunched. Religion, that is organized religion, has no place in politics. None. My personal belief is that religion has no place in a truly organized and peaceful society, but that is only due to the fact that in my experience there is very little that people will kill and die for, and religion is one such thing. The belief that "God" is on our side has caused every major conflict, and most of the little ones too, that has happened. Ever. Not in the last century, the last millennium, but from the time that we have kept records. If we need to put our faith and trust in a higher power then let us believe in the greater power of us. May we believe that we are our own saviors. Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Lao-Tzu, or any of the enlightened beings that have professed that peace is the only way for us to be one with the universe, and at the same time one with each other. We cannot think that we are not the masters of our own destiny. We are in control and we need to take responsibility for our actions. Anyone should be allowed to believe what they want. I won't stop anyone from believing anything that they want to. But when somebody tries to stop me from being what I am, when someone tries to say I am wrong and silence me, I will fight them with every fiber of my being until my last breath. The moving away from superstitious ruling of mankind will allow a better life for all involved. If world peace is possible then it is through everyone realizing that we are all human, nothing separates us except what we let separate us.

If there is a God than It is truly love and nothing more. Not mine, not yours, but ours and for all.

Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
- John le Carre

morality

Aright, if there was a blog post that someone disowns me for here it is. But I have an idea that I need to write down and even if only one person has a slightly different way of thinking because of my words then I am happier because of it.

My life is full of religion. I live in one of the most religious states in the US and I find myself in a unique position to observe the intricacies of the people that label themselves as religious. Religion is about control. I am not saying that churches are trying to take over the world, but the people that proselytize the idea that religion will save a soul, or stop a war don't see the big picture. Hell, most wars have been started about religion and more people have been killed because they were of different religions then any other reason. The holocaust was christian based and the church doesn't like to admit that, 9/11, the ongoing conflict in the middle east, all of these modern examples are just the conflicts that come to mind as I type this. But I am not really here to bash any church in particular. Doing that wouldn't alter the cycle in any way shape or form. Religion has taught us to value life, to keep something going because "god" mandated it. God is a lie. That isn't the atheist coming out in me, that is the idea that the God that we have presented to us as an ultimate being that has our best interest at heart isn't realistic. We should realize that any god with our real interest at heart wouldn't allow us to destroy the world that it created. "god" (as presented by mainstream religion) is nothing more then a way to control the masses and to make people rich. Prove me wrong, please.

Religion teaches us that humans are meant to rule this world, that human life is precious and priceless. Where has that got us? We are runing out of resources, global warming (not a theory any more, fact, the temperature is rising), overpopulation, an economy based on greed and the ability to exploit the masses for personal gain (capitalism, sorry guys, great theory and all but it isn't working), the prevailing idea that we as people in the system have no say about how our lives are lived except that we can choose which shitty dead end job we will live with till we find another shitty dead end job that is "better" because it gives us the ability to live more out of our means. I sound like a communist... eh, I have been called worse things.

Morality has nothing to do with human life any more and we need to stop thinking that humans have some kind of "divine mandate" to do anything. Morality should be about sustaining the home we live on, not pressing outdated and old fashioned ideals onto the youth of this and every country. The world has enough humans. With a population of 10,000 we should try to reproduce, with a population of 6,768,167,712 we need to stop. We aren't talking about survival only if we reproduce, we are talking about not being able to survive if we keep doing what we are doing.

Cans

 

Here I am again putting things into cyberspace from my soliude. Lovin life and glad that I am in my favorite plae in the world. 300+ pics when I get bact, so I have some sorting nd editing when I get bact to my big computer.

amazing

 

I am amazed that I am able to post this pic I took today from my cabin. Middle of nowhere, internet you don't have anything on this.

"I am a agnostic social liberal! So now that I know what I am I can really be me!"
-Em

two tommorows one yesterday

I have talked to my friend in Sweeden, for free. instant communication across thousands of miles at real time, for free. This is but one tiny example. We have the opportunity to be able to change this world as it needs to be changed. People these days still are thinking with a dollar and cent mindset. How much is it going to cost. Where are my hard earned dollars going that I have earned?

This needs to stop. We need to start listening to that little thing inside of us that tells us who we are. I am not talking about your undying soul saved from hell by Jesus himself (rest in peace) I am talking about that little part of you that understands that you are not the only thing in this universe. That I am. The idea is that we are on this earth and a part of this earth for a reason. We are here to uncover some aspect of truth, or so we are told. Truth isn't something that we can call "this" or "that" each persons truth is their own. People have tried saying that over the years with varying levels of sucess. Most of the time they are seen as peacemakers. Agents of change in this soup that we call the masses. It is time to stop thinking with the part of our bodies that wants to be comfortable, and start thinking about the unification of everything, or everyone rather. We as a species are on the edge of a knife. We face our own destruction, yes at our own hands, but we won't live to see the end, no we damn our children and grandchildren to starve and die slowly while we take the cheap way out, dying while everything falls to shit.

We need to start living with this world, not on it. There are vast changes that need to be put into place before we can think about the next step. I just hope it happens before it is too late.

I am a design chauvinist. I believe that good design is magical and not to be
lightly tinkered with. The difference between a great design and a lousy one is
in the meshing of the thousand details that either fit or don't, and the spirit
of the passionate intellect that has tied them together, or tried. That's why
programming -- or buying software -- on the basis of "lists of features" is a
doomed and misguided effort. The features can be thrown together, as in a
garbage can, or carefully laid together and interwoven in elegant unification,
as in APL, or the Forth language, or the game of chess.
-- Ted Nelson

drunk as a sailor, cousin/roomate just turned 21

Cheers to everyone who is drunk. I am celebrating my cousin/roommate's 21st birthday. Happy birthday John Parker. Hopefully I would think in the morning you were thanking me. Prolly not...

If one was able to escape the attention we lavish on ourselves one might be satisfied at the realization that no two Journeys are alike, and the ultimate reality is created by the individual and the individual is always alone.
Sharing company with others is a privilege, not a right of passage.

-Emily

(my girl used my eee for a sec and left that little snippet on my notepad. I asked her where she got the quote from and she said it was from her. Lovin that.)

thought

Why is it that I am drawn to the people that need to be the last in line. Those people that feel like the world gives a shit about them even when they really don't.

drunk as a sailor. thought I'd share a thought.

I really do love the fact that I have paid for none of the hardware, or software for that matter, that I write to you right now on. And the better thing is it is all legal and legit!

I don't get why normal people don't understand that they really shouldn't PAY for that which is free ad easy! arg!

Goodnight!

you are the I am

This world is only as you perceive it,

of course what you decide to do with that perception is up to the will behind the perception, therefore the perception of the world is controlled by the collective will. Nothing in this world is honest in it's being without the world flavouring it constantly by the will around us. no one seems to be able to give me a good answer to the question of "why I am here" and don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people that have tried. I just refuse to believe in a god that smites creation. I don't see an omnipresent, omnipotent being really caring about if there are things out there using it's name to make someone feel like they are worthless. That they don't mean anything unless they give over will to the being that gave them free choice. Yet the gross majority of people in the world adhere to the idea that there is something out there that they must please.

Well, here is what I have to say. You are the I am. You and me and every person on this cold bluish-grey rock flying through space. We are the I am. The awakening of the human consciousness in this reality happened long before I was born, yet at the same time there is a point in every persons life when they realize that they are the only thing in this cosmos that they can count on. People will try to distort and distract themselves from this fact by letting things happen to there will that rob them of free thought. Free thought is more important then free speech. Free thought implies that you don't let the distractions of the people that don't understand that they are the only divinity that they need in this world is inside of them. I don't want to imply that humanity is divine, far from it, humanity has it's flaws just like anything that is allowed to grow naturally. But humanity is different, we carry the innate ability to question the world around us as well as the ability to communicate with others about the questions that we come across and most importantly, the answers that manifest in each person.

I am not denying the existence of god here, merely presenting the idea that there IS a god, and it manifests in all of us through our own interactions in this world and the sharing of those interactions with others. God doesn't sit in cloud casting judgements on creation, god sits in all of us, allowing the communal perception of the world to manifest itself again. Bless yourselves, and everyone around you.

eric

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thursday

I realized just now, every moment in my life has been strung together to every other moment, all the good, the bad, anything that has hampered me, all that has been here to help me, everyone who told me that I wouldn't do anything with myself, everyone who knew that I was going to change everything. All of it has brought me to this tiny coffee shop in salt lake city. From here I must decide the fate of my future, and of everything. Here is where I sit and wonder if it is all worth it. If there is something in this world worth fighting for. I don't think that there really is anything. Maybe that is the part of me tht lost faith talking. Maybe that is the person who wanted to give in , to let this whole world be lost in the flurry that was to follow. Yet I am here. Alone for now. Happy to be doing what I need to.