So much a gamble
the day to day
And a thirst for winning
To make failure´s way
A pair of die
and a stack of numbers
To quantify
our greatest blunders
The house does win
as the facts do stand
Despite our focus
on long-term plans
It´s losing we hate
and rationalizing we do
A self-image we worship
and an emptiness we work through
Yelling, crying
the markers of pain
Two interim strategies
at not going insane
It has been a gamble
and it has seemed a loss
To spend a life others dream of
Adding up costs
---------------------------------------------------------
The cows love the grass
and birds take to the sky
Ugly women wear make-up
But I see through disguise
It´s insatiable hunger
that moves these creatures
And a lonely person
that can´t live with her features
Some see the beauty
but i dwell on the truth
Of a world that gives discipline
That surpasses abuse
Humans are hurting
Our schedules are lacking
the gimmicks are failing
and the crutches are cracking
At peace when on travel
out to lunch, or in bed
But paralized in thought
and so quickly misled
We don´t know what we want
Having twiddled our thumbs
Thinking maybe tomorrow
That epiphany comes
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dude, these poems are outstanding. there's a new solemnity to them, and the flow and rhymes were great. it's a breakthrough. the first one really hit me but they're both great.
ReplyDeleteI agree with jared, except I actually think the second more precisely addresses the issue. It is an insatiable hunger that moves all creatures; no matter how we might delude ourselves into believing that our motivations are more complex or more noble, the truth is that often at the heart of it, our motivations are just as basic and base as those of the animal kingdom. The urge to repress that fact, to set ourselves on a false pedestal and pretend that we are inherently more morally or ethically prestigious than basic instinctive impulses--that is just our pride, and our folly. When that illusion begins to be shattered, all we can do is immerse ourselves even more in the trivial pursuits of life, trying to imbue ourselves with meaning and significance through our jobs, our social status, or our own satisfaction. The result is an entire species "paralyzed in thought."
ReplyDeleteReally great poems man.
word
ReplyDeleteOf course, such an observation is only as valuable as it pertains to the problem of our evolution. The real question, the modern problem, is into what we should evolve. The first problem, the problem of our flaws--that has been expounded upon to a degree that I would at least consider sufficient to denote the necessary reconstruction of our species. The problem we now face is what the precise manifestation of that reconstruction is. We have already achieved a great many such manifestations, but all have eventually proven ineffective or inherently problematic themselves. The value that can be perceived in such studies as religion and philosophy is merely the extent to which these manifestations of reconstruction have succeeded in providing a potential paradigm of such reconstruction. Yet the problems inherent in such systems have led us to reject them. Today our greatest aspiration is to affect a physical and psychological reconstruction of our species, and this paradigm has led us to value with an almost moral quality the integrity of information in our possession. Ergo, the rise of science and the scientific methodology.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would assert the very real probability that the course of our species, specifically with regard to the course of our technological development, is directed at two very particular goals: first, the standardization of human knowledge under the paradigm of scientific rigor; second, the dissemination of such standardized knowledge at a rate increasingly approaching realtime. Taking these two points under consideration, it is not at all unlikely, in my opinion, that the next evolution of the human species shall be the complete assimilation of individual units into the syntax of a so-called "hive mind," in which individual units become mere computational assets of large-scale directives.
In fact, in the social microcosm, we are already fairly capable of acting as a hive mind, although the standardization of information and the rate of its dissemination are both, in most cases, deplorably below what would be ideal measurements of integrity or efficiency, respectively.
Just a few thoughts I would personally relate to the subject of your poems.
I enjoy these poems. Daniel, wtf mate? It's been a while. Where are you residing these days? Your comments above remind me of Agent Smith from the Matrix or the Blue Guy from Watchmen. Tres detachment!
ReplyDeletehaha. i really like your comments, dan. very thoughtful, and know that they don't go unnoticed. i'll have to mull over your conclusions more. are you ascribing a moral positive judgment to the hive evolution?
ReplyDelete@Jared
ReplyDeleteNo actually. In fact I don't particularly maintain any opinion concerning the potential states humans could develop into. These are just observations, and while I may find the process of human development an interesting subject, I'm far less interested in an attempt to attain an objective or moral quantification of the results. If I were to assert any opinion it would simply be that progress toward any state that signifies any type of expansion of consciousness through the transition from a limited paradigm to a transcendent (containing within it without conflict the contents of former mutually exclusive paradigms) paradigm is under my best judgement a worthy aim, in the sense that it is perhaps one of the most logically justifiable and meaningful pursuits humans can undertake, if not morally, ethically, or even philosophically superior to any other pursuit in any way. As far as the potential for a hive mind, I'm not even sure I would call it close to an ideal instantiation of evolutionary progress, I just think that the evidence for it being a probability is fairly evident in any scrutinization of the trends of our technological development, our increasingly interactive social networks (and I don't just mean facebook), a sufficiently significant portion of our medical research, and a vast amount of literature and artistic manifestations of imaginary situations akin to hive mind societies. In general, it seems to me that the great evolutionary leaps of humanity occur almost by accident, and are guided by just such general trends, not necessarily by specific or directed efforts. While no one may be actively trying to evolve humanity into a hive mind, such an evolution may nevertheless already be underway.
@James
ReplyDeleteI live in San Antonio, Texas, and it sucks, but is good for finances. I'm actually somewhat flattered that you would compare me to Dr. Manhattan; Agent Smith on the other hand is very much an icon that is a syntactical contradiction to most of my philosophical opinions. Smith is essentially a destructive algorithm, the very virus he contends humans represent. He consumes, rather than assimilates. Assimilation, which is what the god-like Dr. Manhattan represents to some degree, is an extremely different process. It is the expansion of one original object through the complete integration of another, which other is preserved intact to the greatest degree of integrity possible, while additional logic circuits are constructed in order to make possible its integration with the first object without the need to reconstruct the second. It is this precise expansion in the logic syntax that is responsible for the transition from a limited to a transcendent paradigm. Some would refer to such an event as an epiphany, although most naturally occurring epiphanies are merely the result of such an integration of a content of the unconscious psyche into the conscious psyche (individuation). It's funny that you mention Dr. Manhattan as he may serve as an excellent example of just such an event. Take the sequence in which he teleports the Silk Spectre to Mars to discuss with her his growing disinterest in and frustration with human life. As she argues with him that he must stay, it is evident that he possesses a paradigm that is completely dichotomous with hers, yet after he perceives her paradigm, rather than destroying it, he assimilates it. The resulting paradigm he possesses is one in which the value of both formerly mutually exclusive paradigms is recognized; he has evolved logically, and undergone the "miracle" of an epiphany. While any event of evolution results in an inevitable detachment, the difference of the detachment resulting from a destructive process like Smith's and that resulting from assimilation could not be more important a distinction. The former is a detachment resultant of willful ignorance--delusion--the mindless and meaningless actions of instinct, of unconsciousness; the latter is a detachment resultant of an expansion of consciousness--clarity--the balancing of motivations, the caring unto all things, under which any perceived detachment between the subject and one particular object is only due to that subjects equal concern with an entirely foreign object or set of objects.
I havent read the very last post yet about Dr Manhattan, but I think that these are fun topics to consider. What i most liked is that Dan said that all our pursuits are as basic as those of the animal kingdom. But I think that we can (its not easy) cultivate a mindset through meditation or what-have-you that allows us to be happy. I love my career, i love my kids, i am staying healthy, i am helping other people get healthy and happy...my life is good. The problem i see with people is that they pursue such unwholesome instincts such as popularity, extreme wealth, and the perfect look.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything dan wrote.