7 questions

Sooooo Facebook is making me ask myself 7 important questions.  Why not answer them here?

1. What would you do with your life if you didn’t have to pay the bills? If money weren’t an issue, what would you do with your days? Would you write? Read? Sing? Whatever it is, you have to do that thing. Money is an interesting phenomenon that completely controls our everyday lives without having any purpose other than sustainability in the form of purchasing from others what we could produce and create right in our own backyards. Consider that when you’re deciding between a soulless job that will make you rich versus a life that will feed your passions.

-Chill in coffee shops and work on comics, art, music.

-Picket outside schools about adultism and hand out free books.

-Offer my time to work in a library or on a farm or in a cafe.

-Try to save the world in every way possible (because there are simply too many to list right now)

2. What cuts you the deepest? So much is defined by what we’re most affected by. Really, what do you not even want to think about right now because it brings you so much emotion? Let those things in, and sit with them. Consider them. Integrate them in your life. We call this acceptance. It doesn’t mean you have to like it, it just means it is something that moves you very deeply for some reason, so you shouldn’t ignore it. Figure out what that reason is.

-Many things cut me deep.  The many ills of this world/society, the many inner turmoils I face on my own, the many things I know I cannot help...  But I try to remember one thing: problems can only do two things.  They can kill you, or they can force you to get creative and grow out of it.  For example, one day our sun will explode.  We can either grieve and wait to explode or we can think how awesome it'll be to be space travelers.  Without that inevitability, we might never be forced to transcend our Earthly place.  For another example, I have faced a lot of anguish in my life.  It didn't kill me, but it has helped me find the humility and empathy to be a decent person.  I could be mad, or I could enjoy it. ... But to stop avoid the question, the things that cut me deepest are being trans and the abomination of a society our elders have created.

3. If you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today? Live for today or plant seeds for tomorrow.  What path is most important for you to take before you embark on that new road we call death?

-I'd listen to this song on repeat (and maybe this one too).  I'd also write a long letter to family and friends.  I'd tell my siblings some truths I've kept from them.  I'd print up a copy of my blog, find all my old drawings, take down the things my students made for me over the years off my wall, compile a big compilation of the joys of my life and plan a ceremony to celebrate life...  Don't mourn my death.  Death sounds like a wonderful adventure-- and I'll see you there.

4. Who do you love and why do you love them? The first people that come to mind are very much a part of who you are. But what’s even more important is why you love these people. Where is your love and what is it based on?

-Love is complicated for me.  Seeing matter and "people" as interchangable allows me to love notes forged with intensity, songs sung with tears, moments lost in time, random strangers full of pain, as well as close individuals with whom I share intimate or non-intimate relations.  ... OK, yeah, to answer the question without copping out, I will say my family... Yet I will say my family is far more than simply the ones who share my blood.  You know who you are.

5. What do you quote? I’m always interested by what people quote, especially on social media, because really, they’re not bringing your attention to something that someone wise said as much as they are trying to tell you something about themselves. Look at what you want to perpetuate to other people, when you yourself can’t find the words. What strikes you most is who you are.

-I have the most eclectic and varied quote stores in my brain.  If this were D&D, I'd have devoted a feat to it.  However, I find myself quoting Rumi more often than anyone else these days.  That old lecherous fart... he knew some shit.

6. In those rare but life-changing moments, how do you act?  When you’re at the end of your rope and you have to make a decision, which way do you choose? Notice the patterns in the paths you choose to take. Notice how you help others when they ask for it. Notice more how you help when they don’t. Your instinctive, intuitive reactions do say something about you. I know some would argue that instincts are just by-products of technically being animals, but our instincts are also formed by the thoughts that we craft in our minds.

-I make many calculations and fortify myself with knowledge, but at the end of the day, I follow my instinct and I listen to the language of the world which deafens me to much that logic and reasoning whispers in my ear.  I don't find these moments rare.  Every day is an explosion of action and reaction, the great cosmic dance of Shiva.  There is a flow and once in line with it, I believe every moment of your life becomes life-changing.  I'll tell you for sure if that's true once I'm in line with that flow.

7. What do you think about most? It’s the little things that add up and create who you are, and if you really want to see where you’re at, write down the things you think about most. They are where you are most invested. They are where you are most curious, interested, perplexed, pained and inspired. These are the things and people who most tell you who you are, because they are the things and people who have remained with you, even if they’re not physically there anymore.

-hmmm.  Gender, how to make society better, higher states of consciousness, humility at the vastness of the universe, and joy at all the simple things.

Programming Joy

In order to replicate life, we must replicate joy, for it is what causes us to seek.

First off, I love me some Star Wars.  I will save you hours of facepalming at my nerdiness by leaving it at that, but it is important to note that this whole thought originated while I was watching The Clone Wars on Netflix.

In The Clone Wars, there is an army of droids that the Sith use to fight against the Republic's clone troopers.  The way the artists depict these droids is very comical.  In one episode, the droid army is testing out a new weapon that disables enemy ships with an electronic pulse, leaving it vulnerable to attack.  As two droids were manning cannons, demolishing a helpless Republic vessel, one droid turns to the other and says, "It sure is a lot more fun when they aren't firing back!"  To which the other replies, "I STILL can't hit anything!"

I laughed at this well crafted line, but I smiled as well.  I laughed because the age-old joke regarding the accuracy of these futuristic machines is being poked at by the series itself.  But I smiled as well because these droids are simply happy and that makes me smile.  No matter what insane orders they receive or how much more superior their foes are in terms of raw ability and power, the droids experience nothing less than joy at following those orders.  Fulfilling their purpose makes them happy and concepts such as honor, sacrifice, duty, and gratitude spring forth from this simple emotion felt at living their purpose.

Then it hit me.  Joy is the key!  If there is one amazing thing about life, it is emergence-- how higher order systems of behavior can arise from lower order functions.  From behavioral psychology to ripple patterns in sand dunes to swarming flocks of birds to crystals forming on glass, there are insanely simple rules in these systems, yet immensely complex results spring from them.  Watching these animated robots, I felt suddenly as if it all made sense.  I felt like ALL life seems to emerge out of this simple joy felt in finding one's purpose and living through it.

Actively seeking out this joy is truly what makes us alive.  I have only recently awoken to this cosmic gravity that overflows my being with pure joy at simply breathing.  If we truly wish to create life, we have to synthesize this raw joy experienced upon living and impregnate our creations with it.

Programming would then become wiring systems to work together to achieve a goal that instantiates this raw joy.  But now, dear reader, we must question how to synthesize joy and bestow it upon our creations...
...
Yeah, I got nothin.  For today though, I am at ease.  I am at ease to know that I am alive and a cosmic gravity tugs at my poncho, pulling me ever towards what I can only describe as heaven on Earth.

Our Sober Act of Duty

I think that maY Is yhe best

Sorry, a roommate/kitty interrupted me.  While I think that may is the best, what I want to say is this:

"Revolution cannot be simply a sober act of duty.  It MUST be a drunken act of joy."

Every living being ought to strive to make the universe a better place before dying.  I say this like it's a sober duty, but the truth is far from it.  The truth is that the only way to make the universe better is to let that joy inborn in us transform the world.

One often thinks that we need to fight and struggle to make the world a better place by changing the injustice and in a way being a martyr for a better world.  But the truth is that none of us need be martyrs to make the universe better.  The truth is so much simpler than that.  The truth is just that we have to be-- truly BE and the rest will sort itself out.  For revolution must be a drunken act of joy.  It is a sober duty that must be done, but it should not be done soberly... OR sober for that reason.  Speaking of--  *chug chug chug*