On Being a Writer

What is it to be a writer? I have addressed this topic before and each time it has had a slightly different orientation.

As a starting point I'd like to say that writing IS, rewriting. But it also takes practice, it requires learning the overall art of wordsmithing. It takes finding one's "voice", having something to say, having the ability to entertain, educate, and exemplify. Yes, to entertain. That is serious for entertainment writing, but even the News industry has discovered that to be true. Sadly for news consumers, as this discovery by our journalistic brothers and sisters (more so their corporate handlers) has truly been a downfall for us all, as well as for them. 

If you get paid for writing something, are you a professional?

Yes, pretty much by definition. But you can also be a "professional" oriented writer if you have that attitude and present those results. One could argue that an amateur writer can be as professional as a professional, without the pay or notoriety. In which case I suppose the next level would be a hobbyist, though they can be pretty amazing in some cases too. "Fan fiction" does have the extremes of being at a professional level and probably more often, a very amateurish level. Yet even then some works can be popular. 

Granted, there are all these things and so many more levels of each type. One of the reasons I ever first took a chance on writing a fiction story was because of a story I had read in a magazine. I just knew that I could easily do better than that.

But this is all too complicated and confusing. 

Basically for the purposes of this piece, I see writers as being broken up between Professionals and Amateurs. But I do accede to the simplification of that. Nevertheless...

Anyone can be a "writer". Write a grocery list, you're a "writer". Turn it into a stream of consciousness, you're more of a writer proper. Put it into a fiction story format and you are even more of a writer and at some point you are an author. So being a writer is a matter of degrees of being.

When someone says, "I'm a writer", it's really hard to know just what they mean by that. Just what that means, to you, or to them. I suspect there are many people who claim to be something they are not. Sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose to make themselves already be what takes years of experience and hard work

To be what we typically consider to be a "Writer", that is, to be a "published" writer of some quality, one surely has to have skills in writing. Of course you then get into asking, what does "published" mean? Published by a major publishing house? Surely. But what about being self-published? For many decades now anyone with money can do that. But now a days even if you don't have money you can turn out an ebook and call yourself a "published writer". Are you?

Aren't you?

To be a Professional Writer (in my "book") the writings have to be impeccably spelled, the grammar built to draw the reader in. You should notice that I didn't say that you have to have perfect grammar, but you do have to have acceptable grammar. Of course it's best to first learn the rules of grammar in order to be able to twist them on end, in order to titillate and satiate.

Allow me to share with you a book a friend and fellow Author, Kurt Giambastiani (great writer) recently sent me and I'm quite grateful for it. It is called, "The 10% Solution". From the Amazon book description: "This is a concise book jammed full of the kind of information it often takes beginning writers years to learn. Ken Rand offers his own advice and twenty-five years of experience for the benefit of other writers.His no-nonsense approach to editing fiction will do more to make writing more professional."

Books on writing are your friend, just be aware there are some bad ones available too. People are in the end one of your best resources. Astute readers, that is. And other (especially published) Authors, if you can find them and they are interested in helping you (or if they have the time), are invaluable.

Most of the feedback however that I've gotten back on my writings throughout my life were useless. Mostly I heard "I liked it". But nothing is as valuable as constructive criticism. Having good readers in your group of friends is immeasurably helpful, if they are willing to be submitted to your trials and efforts. And if any ever are gracious enough to read your non-final draft nonsense, be grateful and appreciative and take to heart what they say. One would assume they said it for a reason, whatever it was.

One more thing. One of my favorite Professors used to say, and I'll paraphrase his more direct statement, never show your first draft of anything to anyone. It's typically offensive and if no one tells you that, they are simply being kind. There are few authors who can whip out a first draft in sell-able form. You're probably not that person. Maybe you are, but it's far more safe to consider that you are not and you have much practice and effort ahead of you to get there.

In the end readers have to be able to read your writings without being so disturbed by the prose that they find it hard to comfortably take in the story being told. What is "comfortable" for them in this case, is up for discussion and has something to do with what authors certain readers will choose, over others. Genre, "voice", intellectual levels and so on.

All that being said I would caution about "authors" and their final products. I've read self published books that were perfect, amazing. I've read huge best sellers that had words out of place, or spelling errors. Yes that is all a part of it, but that's not the end of things I'm discussing here. What I'm talking about here is what the writer produces, not what the final product looks like. That's another topic entirely. Just as important to a professional writer, but a different half of the same book, if you will.

Story, is of course all important. But the reader has to be able to access it. 

A writer has to be able to do the writing, to perform the action of writing from start to finish. To sit, stand, dance, whatever, while one finishes the work. Which usually takes an effort to continue with the writing until it is finished. 

A writer has to be able to create story. To tell a tale, keep a reader's attention. To in the end, make a reader want more. Otherwise, what's the purpose? 

There is a thread of conversation among new writers about how one keeps writing when the desire isn't there. Another is about what I'm discussing here, what it means to be a writer or what a writer is. Are you even a writer if you aren't writing? Are you only a writer while you write? Or are you a writer only if you are a published, or a paid writer. Or like, what?

One thing that I believe separates professionals from amateurs is that professionals finish what they start. And nothing goes to waste. They take notes. They save, everything. They review them regularly, adding to them as time passes so that in some cases, you one day have a complete story and you just need to work toward a final draft, and submit it.

A professional writer will get up in the middle of the night to write down good ideas. They will stop to finish a thought and note it, wherever they are. They may dream a story, writing it down once consciousness takes over in the morning, or when they suddenly wake.

I can't say this too strongly. Far too often to wait till a convenient time to note a good story or idea, is to lose it. I not completely, at least partially. Which sometimes can be just as bad. 

So what IS a Writer? Perhaps you are the one who defines what that means. If you want to be a writer then you have to do it. A runner cannot be a runner if he is a great swimmer and never runs. You have to do (as much as possible) what you want to be. A claim is nothing like the ability to point to a product to show who you are.

I've heard the question about whether a writer is born or created. Some I think are born writers. But others can learn the craft. It's all a matter of degree of quality and popularity. And remembering that if you never put your works out for others to experience, there never can be a chance for popularity or acclaim. And it is just a private hobby.

But we all have a story to tell. Some of us can simply tell it more cleverly than others. And some of that just comes from hard work and learning what you need to know in order to do, simply what you may claim you want to do.

There is never a better time than the present for starting to be who you want to be. 

All that being said... here's a good brief comment on writing.

I am...a Murderer

I am a murderer. It dawned on me the other day. Murderer.

It's my fault and that makes it thus: I murdered. Kind of by definition.

First let me say when I was younger, I used to blame other people, other things for my difficulties in life. Mostly my parents. And rightly so, as they really screwed things up, and me. But they also gave me things, like genetics and an orientation in life to survive, to succeed. Mostly though I owe my Grandmother, my mother's mother. But still, I moved out of my parent's house (mother and not very well liked step-father from since I was five, in either direction) at seventeen with a chip on my shoulder. Eventually I joined the USAF at twenty. Life was going no where for me and I thought this might turn things around. It did in a way, it didn't, in another way.

Eventually though after the military, during my University years toward getting a degree in Psychology and while working things out with my primary Psych Professor and Adviser, I came to realize that I needed to take responsibility for myself. Actually it was that Prof. who shoved that one down my throat until I finally understood and began to get it. Finally I realized that after I moved out of my parent's house, whatever was wrong or right with me became fully my own responsibility, to blame or to praise. And that was perhaps the biggest revelation in my life. It turned my life around. Failures started to turn into successes. Though I'll have to admit a nod to my mother and her mother for my persistence is surviving nearly anything. A troubled childhood, a difficult adolescence, a difficult decade in my twenties that didn't really stop there. Why? Because the paradigm I had grown up with, was faulty. But that is another story for another time.

So what's this about murder?

My first wife and I ended it on good terms. I was in the end, probably just too young to get married at twenty years of age. But that was only the beginning.

See, I have married three and a half times so far, in my life.

My second (non-wife as we were together long enough at around six years, but we never married) went through our college years with me, before and for a little while after. But that was just never to be in the end. I seem to find relationships end at seminal moments. Like when I got out of the USAF. And when my University years were over. Then things changed.

Divorcing the first time had traumatized me and I never wanted to do that to another. Regardless of whose fault it was. That first time had been my desire to marry and later my desire to divorce since it had just stopped working. It wasn't my fault, it wasn't her fault, it was our fault. But my second long term relationship was doomed to failure.

My (legally) second wife said she had really wanted me from the start, no matter what, from the time she first saw me, she later said she was going to have me. I on the other hand, wasn't interested. Not so much because of her, but because I had recently been run through the wringer after my University years and the preceding military years and by this time I had really had it with romantic relationships.

From the TV show, "Elementary", words spoken by the modern times, Sherlock Holmes character:

"I've lived most of my life with the firm conviction that romantic love is a delusion. It's a futile hedge against the existential terror that is our own singularity."

He then goes on to say that he then went on to meet a woman he fell in love with, who turned out to be, a criminal, the modern day, Moriarty. To which he said he now feels, liberated on the topic.

So I was taking a break when my second wife found me. Still, she put her mind to getting me in any way she could. And testament to perseverance and desire, she got me.

My third wife, loved me a lot. I loved her a lot. But in the end, she loves herself more than anyone. Still, in her universe, I had murdered...us.

See I didn't live up to her expectations of me. I didn't fulfill the concept, of who she thought I was. I broke her view of who I seemed to be and so in the end, I killed that view she held of me. It wasn't very long after, that the marriage ended, and well, I had murdered it.

I murdered it for my last wife, my next to the last wife, my unwife (the point five wife, as we had lived together a long enough for common law though we don't have that in Washington state, but I figured she earned, deserved, at least a half listing as a wife).

But still, I am a murderer.

I murdered my marriages. I murdered another's self delusions and misinterpretations of who I was. Who I was supposed to be, to them. Who they needed me to be. Was that their fault? Was it mine? Was it my responsibility to live up to who they expected me to be, even if I didn't fully know, or realize who that person was? Maybe.

Because when you take on another person as your responsibility, and when you marry, you are, isn't it at least somewhat your responsibility too? Isn't that the reason to be really damn sure of what you are getting into when you marry? Maybe that is why so many are choosing now a days not to marry but to simply live together.

So in a way I had murdered. I had murdered multiple times, multiple relationships.

Perhaps if I had known more fully who I was but more importantly almost, who others perceived me to be, and specifically who I was perceived to be by the women in my life, perhaps then I could say that I was responsible and had lived up to those expectations.

Because mostly, and this is the weird part, I was who those women thought I was. But not in the way they thought I was. Mostly from what I could later deduce, they saw things, saw me, in black and white. And I see things in various shades of grey.

My last wife actually stated it in those words, saying: "Life IS black and white." to which I responded, "No, no it isn't. Life is various shades of grey. Life is complicated. It's easier to live life as if it were black and white, but that is missing so much of what is going on. It is missing making the best decisions possible. It is setting yourself up for failure in the future. It is a temporary fix seeing things as black and white, an easy effort to come to a quick conclusion for something that may work for now, but in the future will turn on you and ruin your plans."

Okay, I didn't say all that. I just said I disagreed and that I saw things as various shades of grey.

My point?

I have been taking time off from relationships for a while. Trying to see who I was, what I was doing. So that next time, if there is a next time, I will chose more correctly. I will have more to bring to the relationship rather than needing someone to "complete me". One of the stupidest things to think a relationship will do for you. First, you need to bring a whole person to the relationship, to add to it, not take away from it to "complete you". That, is just a drain on the relationship doomed to failure.

Next time I decide to enter into a relationship, I will take my time on who I choose to spend my time with and who I allow to spend their time with me so as not to waste their valuable life time. Because their decision is in part my decision too. I will use a different set of criteria for making these decisions. I will give more weight to what they need and if they are looking for me to "complete them". Because if they are, I'm running the other way.

Actually, I will politely beg off and walk away with my (and their) dignity still attached.

And because, I don't want to be a murderer anymore.

Knowledge is....

What is, knowledge?

It is not just a set of facts. It is not just a wisdom set. Not just a lexicon, a data set or a knowledge-base. It is for all intents and purposes, a quandary. A state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation. And life is a difficult situation. We need to have accurate information in order to live properly and function appropriately in life. We need, knowledge. And knowledge is not just information, not just experience, and not just wisdom. But a blending of the two.

It is also a process. It is how we get there and how we reroute when we get off track. It is also who we are. We need not only to be right and succeed, we need to make mistakes, to disagree, to debate. But it is also important for us to allow others to view this process and when possible, while it is still in process.

I've tried to do this. I've also had people accuse me of ego for it. It is not ego to share process. It is education, "enhanced information". And education leads (can lead) to knowledge. 

My ex-wife thought we should never show ignorance to our children. I heartily disagreed. To always look perfect is to teach imperfection. To show imperfection and how to deal with it is to teach how to strive toward perfection (an unattainable goal but something to shoot for), while not concerning oneself with never being perfect. Or a fear of simply not being perfect.

Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism has at its core, debate, for a reason. Without debate at the core of our knowledge we can find ourselves stuck in that horror of horrors religion finds itself in, time and again. That of being static to the point of not seeing reality for our beliefs. Missing the "forest for the trees."

So go forward and make mistakes. Disagree. Not for the sake of simply being contrary, but for the sake of seeking the Truth in its various shades. Be proud of your ignorance for it is a noble condition everyone everywhere has been in and will always remain in.

We all start there, but hopefully will not end up there. Although one might realize as one learns, that the more one learns the less one knows, in the end if you have worked hard, listened, debated, analyzed, experienced, you may well end up more ignorant than where you started. 

But you will still not be ignorant in the same way as when you began.

It is in holding Truth as our destination and our path that we become our most alive in this world. In this Universe. But do not let Truth be your only goal, or the pursuit of Truth will make you rigid. It is for that reason that the Buddhist Koan exists: 

"If you meet the Buddha, kill him.”– Linji

Please feel free to enjoy the quandary. Cheers! Sláinte!

Why would Mohammed tell Jihadists to attack innocents and other Muslims?

Mohammed never did tell anyone to attack anyone. He lived in very violent times where help was in what you could do for yourself and your people. Times, have certainly changed. If Islam were created today it's possibly he would have created it just the same, for it wasn't during his lifetime that much of what has gone wrong in Islam, was put into place or action. Just like in Catholicism. Much of the insanity in that religion came to be hundreds of years after Jesus lived and taught what he taught.

Those terrorist Islamic Jihadists who kill unnecessarily (that is in not killing directly to protect but to kill outright in bombing outside of the battlefield and thereby murdering innocents) need to remember what their own Prophet said, which to me decries their murderous actions against innocents from their leader's own words.

To claim a non-battlefield is a battlefield, to claim it okay to kill those who may not even have voted for the administration of their own country who may kill Muslims, to say that they have a right to kill other innocent Muslims when attempting to kill who they perceive to be their enemies, to kill those who might very well agree with their complaints, is cowardly.

Not cowardly in the sense that it takes courage to face death and die. No, certainly not. But then consider, if you are guaranteed rewards, just how bravely really, is it? When you believe that you kill yourself and you are rewarded in Heaven with, whatever... just how brave is it? Perhaps not to do it would be more brave. Sometimes not doing these things in the brave thing, not the following through but the challenge of not killing. How brave is it to face death when you believe you will become ruler of the world or exalted in an afterlife? Perhaps in that situation it is cowardice to follow through, but brave to go against that, not to kill, as the Quaran teaches.

These are Cowards in that they will not just admit to killing for killing's sake, needing to justify and rationalize it through a subversion of their religion for their own bloodthirsty and selfish desires, bastardizing their beliefs that even most Muslims disagree with most adamantly. Brave are those who stay alive and stand for making things work in the world, to bring all Humankind together. Cowardly is to leave the world to its own devices and take the easy way out to not have to find solutions to the impossibly difficult process of making the world a wonder and a beautiful place to live in.

Initiating violence is always the final resort of the fool, the coward, the ignorant. A wise person will find ways to bring about a peace and solution. Just as Mohammed did, or tried to do. But in reviewing his life, one does not see what has been done in modern times by so called, Jihadists.

What did Mohammed say about how to treat one another? Many Islamic scholars, some Muslim, some not, seem to think that his last sermon summed up all of his teachings in one short sermon.

But before I get to that I'd just like to say that I find it very curious how certain Muslims will kill over someone drawing a cartoon of Mohammed. Isn't that elevating him to a position that only God should hold? In only displaying Mohammed with no face aren't they elevating him beyond what he would have wanted himself? The desire not to portray anyone or anything between oneself and God is very much subverted when one throws such a fuss over their Prophet being depicted. I find in reviewing Islam that there is, as with other religions, quite a bit between themselves and their God.

The desire not to show Mohammed's image is a Muslim issue, not a non-Muslim issue and to force that on a non-Muslim is anti-Muslim. For Sharia Law to be so judicial in its admonitions and punishments is against non-Muslims, as it was only in the 9th century, hundreds of years after the death of Mohammed, that these things were even put into practice in an attempt to govern an ever growing community.

I truly doubt that Mohammed, anymore than Jesus, would recognize his religion were he to come back now a days to look at how things have been deconstructed and restructured for the selfish needs of a few who were trying to enforce beliefs that were never there in the beginning and never given to the faithful by Mohammed. Jesus never said priests should never marry. And Mohammed never said to blow up innocent people. He even exercised mercy on those he could have slaughtered.

It's time to think about all this, to re-evaluate where things are now and to get back to the original beliefs of a religion that believed above all else in doing no harm and allowing others to live and let live together. Perhaps the following will help you see what I mean.

And while we're at it, isn't it always curious when God gets involved in financial matters?

THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S LAST SERMON
This Sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H in the Uranah Valley of mount Arafat.

“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again.  Therefore, listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.

O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust.  Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners.  Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.  Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds.  God has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived.  Your capital, however, is yours to keep.  You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity.  God has Judged that there shall be no interest, and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn Abd’al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived...

Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion.  He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.

O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you.  Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under a trust from God and with His permission.  If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness.  Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers.  And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.

O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God, perform your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan, and offer Zakat.  Perform Hajj if you have the means.

All mankind is from Adam and Eve.  An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; white has no superiority over black, nor does a black have any superiority over white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action.  Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood.  Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly.  Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.

Remember, one day you will appear before God and answer for your deeds.  So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born.  Reason well, therefore, O people, and understand words which I convey to you.  I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray.

All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and it may be that the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly.  Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.”

Wouldn't it be incredibly wonderful if all believers in Islam everywhere, were to just start practicing what is is contained in these words? Isn't it high time that we all just started to get along.

And by the way. For those of you who think I'm being racist, or just picking on Islam, I'm not. there's enough nuts in Catholicism, and just about any other religion I can think of. Basically if you're going to believe in something, learn what it's all about and don't just do what my mother did when I asked her, "how do you know what you believe is true?"

Her response? "I believe what my parents taught me." Really? We asked our parish Priest who was over for lunch one day about one of her beliefs and he looked shocked and flat out said to her, "Well, that's not what our religion teaches us." Yet it was what her uneducated parents taught her.

And so it goes around the world....

Coincidence, Belief and the Dragonfly

Last year I bought a new bike and rode it every day on my vacation at a local park with a mile long bicycle path. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed riding. I used to ride around Greenlake in Seattle and along the Burke-Gilman Trail around Lake Washington. So coming from being used to a nice long bike path to roads in Kitsap County where I live, they are just not so great in comparison. 

Still, I've been looking for a closer place to ride. Finally, found one that works for me, for now, until I get to be a stronger rider to head out for the great unknown (if ever). 

Parking in the Junior High lot

I started to ride for the first time this year mid-summer. It's nice there because I can park at the local Junior High, and the bike path is right there, on that road.

Junior High school parking lot and road

It's a nice wide road too, with a marked bicycle path. Traffic isn't very heavy and I don't feel too paranoid riding with cars whizzing by. Some of the roads around here are dangerous and people have died being hit by a car. I know one guy who is now a paraplegic from a car / bike accident.

At the beginning of the path loop

This brings us to a day when I was riding the path and found a dead Dragonfly on the roadside. It was odd. Perfect looking. Almost manufactured. It was just sitting there on the roadside. I had to stop my bike and get off to look at it. It was blue and colorful. No damage whatsoever. It was remarkable.

Which, is why I'm remarking on it here. I wanted to take it home but there was no place safe to put it. If I put it in my bike somewhere as I have bags on the bike to carry my phone, keys, etc., so they aren't all in my pockets rubbing uncomfortably. But I was sure it would get damaged if i put it on the bike. So I figured, well I'm here to ride after all, so I got on my bike and continued on.

fence line with posts and reflectors

But I kept thinking about it and on the way back on my second loop I saw it again. It was just sitting there on the road. But I kept on going. On the final loop back I saw it again. This time I'd had plenty of time to think about it and finally had decided I would have to do... something.

reflector on post

I thought I would set it aside for now, then when I was done riding I could pack up the car, drive up, park on the roadside, retrieve it and put it safely in the car. Once back at home I could then figure out how to display it. This may sound somewhat morbid to some but I was fascinated by what a piece of art it was and after all, I hadn't killed it, had I? It was almost like a gift from nature and needed to be preserved, at very least so that others could see it.

Carefully, I picked it up and set it on the fourth reflector post from the beginning of the road fence line. There was a reflector on the eighth post, the fourth reflector post as they were set every other post. The reflector was a right angle and almost seemed to me like a perfect place to put the Dragonfly. It was almost like a display and also partial protection from the wind. So I set it there. I realized the wind might catch it, but there was nowhere else to put it. And it would be easy to find after I got in the car. It just sat there. Still. Why I didn't take a photo I don't know. Now I realize that I should have.

Blue Eyed Darner Dragonfly

The problem with all this was that when I got in the car, I was also concerned about a burn on my leg from riding my Harley with shorts on. Something I won't be doing again any time soon. It was taking forever to heal and the Neosporin I had been using almost seemed like it was making it worse. It worked at first but then felt like it was simply irritating it.

Because of that burn, I decided after I was done riding for the day, that I would turn right instead of left at the stop light at the "T" intersection up the road on the way home. And of course before I even made that decision, I had forgotten all about the Dragonfly.

It wasn't until much later in the day that evening that I even thought about it again. I could have gotten up right then to go see if it was still there. But I figured it might not be by then and it would just be a wasted six mile drive, twelve round trip. Which by the way was better than the nine mile drive I had been doing last year to Battlepoint Park on Bainbridge Island. A difference of six miles round trip, last year to this.

I stagger my work outs every other day. One day anaerobic, next day aerobic. So the next day I lifted weights for exercise. The next day was a Saturday. It was supposed to rain but then the weather changed and it was nice requiring only a sweatshirt to ride comfortably. So I went back. As I drove by I checked  and didn't see the insect, much as I had expected not to as it had been windy the day before.

I parked, got geared up and headed down the path. On the return trip I stopped at the fourth reflector post. I looked around. Nothing. There is a steep sandy slope for about eight feet down to heavy foliage. I looked for a while, very carefully. I tried to go down the slope half way and almost quickly ended up at the bottom all the way. But in the end I had to conclude, either someone took it, which I would have been fine if they had only made good use of it and for the right reasons, or the wind had simply blown it away. Taking that into consideration, I scanned the foliage again very carefully. Still nothing.

So I rode off. As I made the loop a second time, I scanned the road and roadside. Nothing. No Dragonfly laying around anywhere. In fact, no insects at all, really. Finally I turned at the end of the road near my car and began my last and final loop. Now up to this point there had been nothing out of the usual, nothing odd, nothing unexpected.

But then it happened. As I was starting the final loop, the same kind of Dragonfly flew right by me, almost as if to say, "Hello". It came up on my right, flew along with me a moment, sped up in front of me and crossed over to my left and continued on quickly disappearing. I let it go as to watch it too intently could end me up on the pavement in a rather unpleasant and painful event.

What was so weird about this was that I had an overwhelming feeling that somehow it was the same Dragonfly. Had it come to let me know that it was all alright after all? Was it telling me to be at peace, that I hadn't made a mistake in having forgotten about it, or in not coming back to look for it as soon as I did remember? Or to let me know that it had been fine and perhaps had only been hibernating for some reason mysterious, though perhaps quite normal?

In the end, I really don't know. Really, can't know, right? But I'm pretty sure it was just a coincidence.

Now if I had been of a different mindset, a different orientation, I might have attributed it to God,  God, or many Gods, a High Power, some kind of (hopefully) benign greater force in the universe.

It was only a quick, short trip to go one of two vastly different directions. Had I taken the road less taken? Or had I take the road most taken? Regardless, I had taken the road I always have tried to take. That on seeing both, acknowledging both, enjoying the possibilities in both, and more. And then continue on. The Dragonfly experience was now part of who I was. Again.

It reminded me of a time, decades ago. My family was camping up near Mt Rainier. I was on a road at the National Parks campground with my siblings and we were playing. We discovered a Dragonfly and followed it around, fascinated. We were reminded of when we were younger and living in Philadelphia. We were behind our apartment complex on Sharpnack Street, my sister and I. We were doing what a lot of kids do that time of year. Capturing fireflies in glass jars.

But now we were in Washington state. And the Dragonfly was near Mt Rainier. It had landed on a leaf. I watched as it moved and something came out of it. I was amazed that it was purple. Had it taken a purple dump there on the leaf? I told my sister, though she didn't seem so interested. But what takes a purple shite on a leaf like that? I found postings worth reading as they are funny. Someone said their shite is silver, another said it's sperm, yet another might be right in it being eggs. Well, whatever.

After all this, I started to wonder what a dargonfly meant, historically. What did it symbolize? Many insects have meanings attributed to them over the ages by people of various cultures and races. So I looked it up. Dragonflies have been thought to symbolize such things as:

• Maturity and a Depth of character
• Power and Poise
• Defeat of Self Created Illusions
• Focus on living ‘IN’ the moment
• The opening of one’s eyes

From Dragonfly-site.com

Ever since childhood I had felt some kind of wonder at these creatures and apparently I'm not the only one in the world or through history who felt that. I believed as a child that they had some kind of meaning beyond their mere existence. These Dragonflies were after all in my mind, pretty awesome.

I've been somewhat fascinated by them ever since. And to have been made a gift of a Dragonfly as I had with it just sitting there on the side of a road, seemed somehow amazing, too. Did it mean something? I knew that in reality it was yet another a random event in a serious of random events extending over the length of my life. But still it somehow made me feel like my choice of bicycling, of choosing this path, of doing it on that day...well, that everything was right. That it all fit, the universe was somehow aligned. Yes, that is all pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

My point being here that it is natural to feel or believe in such things. It's the easy belief to have and it's that kind of thing that has led us to a variety of mistakes along our history as Human Beings. There is value in seeing, understanding these things, but also in not believing in them intrinsically. I believe there is also value in ascribing symbolism as it can be a kind of shorthand in communications between people, and understanding one culture's symbolism can be a powerful thing when another culture is trying hard to understand and communicate with them.

All of this is in part why the absurdest pseudo-religion, "Church of the Pure Purple", or for those who find its association with religion as distracting, then its umbrella organization, "Purpleism" which uses the Dragonfly as part of it's symbol.

It's all about reality you see. Actual reality, not perceived reality, not merely believed reality. Believing in things that make sense. Avoiding the senseless things in life. Avoiding those things that are just stupid. Cutting through nonsense and helping people through the banal and the nonsensical  and therefore helping out our entire Human race, to advance and live more in peace and harmony.

Far too often we find ourselves following the status quo, going through the motions when really, if we just stood back and thought about what we were believing in or what we were doing, we'd realize that we were being pretty stupid. Still, that's partly how the world is set up. It's not all our fault after all. But we do need to recognize those times and do what we can do fix it. Sometimes that means doing what is generally considered to be wrong, getting punished for it, all the while knowing that what you are doing is truly the right thing to do and maybe, hopefully, you are saving an innocent in the process. Possibly someone caught being chewed up in the machinery of society, religion, or humanity for that matter.

I will end with this there. I've given you the information, some of my experience and places to seek more interesting information.

Now, what is it you need to do?
Nothing?
Anything?
Something?

Hopefully, something....

Putin's letter to the American People on Syria

#murdockinations #Syria
On September 11th, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin sent a letter to the New York Times to directly address the American people. It is an interesting read (reading between the lines of his letter).

I do question our belief in our perceived exceptionalism now a days. There are certainly still things that make America great, but is it really what we are being led to believe it is? Or is it in something else more intrinsic to who we are and in what we can positively achieve in the world? I'm hoping, more and more it involves non-military practices.

It's high time we start redesigning our military / industrial complex, how we believe they should be used (or how we are being used by them) and in doing so, take control back from them.

The middle east is a complicated place. We need to understand that what we publicly say as a nation, is not always what we will do in the end (or so it should be). That's how it works in manipulating a situation toward more positive results. Finesse a situation. Only fools believe they have to use force all the time.

Do we need to have the "big stick" behind the talk? Does the "big stick" need to be used so often in dealing out its death and destruction all (any) of the time? When one uses that "big stick" too much, it begins to turn into another thing. It changes those who wield it and that makes that entire theory of this type of diplomacy questionable.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far," said President Roosevelt. What do you want that to mean? And what does "speak softly" really mean? I believe it means to speak civilly, intelligently, sometimes behind the scenes even, but always effectively. Backing it up with strength. The goal after all, is to not go beyond that.

We seem to have lost that understanding far too often in not applying intellect over force. How do we know that you ask? Really? Because we've been using force a lot in case you haven't noticed. And if we don't at some point stop it, then who have we really become?


NOTE: A blatant plug for a Friend.
People keep trying to spam my blog so I might as well just do it myself, right?
IF you've had quite enough of all this reality stuff, check out fellow Author Kurt Giambastiani's latest ebook novelette, "The Revitalization of Emily", on Amazon.
Cheers!

The Age of Aquarius

I was just watching a DVD of the old Smother's Brothers Show from 1967-69 (yes, good old Netflix). They had the West Coast Cast of the Musical "Hair" on. They sang "The Age of Aquarius".  In listening to them perform, I found myself drifting back to those times. I watched the Smother's Brothers show and loved it as a kid. So, this drew my mind back to those times, to the "Age of Aquarius" as we knew it back then. It brought back to me a sense of wonder. Forced me to compare then, and now.

That was a time of opening minds, of new possibilities. Of things being served to the public we had never known of before on a silver platter. Of Vietnam and the war there. Of despair, and boredom in our society and in our way of life. And then this "Age of Aquarius" hit and suddenly we were aware of new ideas, new thoughts, new possibilities. Of Hope. Hope in the possibility of forces outside of our daily lives giving more meaning to what we went through than what we were experiencing at the time.

The boredom and doldrums of the 1950s were then behind us, the early 60s were even behind us and there was hope that we could as a people, win out over the "Cold War", the "M.A.D. (Mutual Assured Destruction) nuclear arms destruction fears, our favored leaders being murdered, the binding chains of our history in finally making African Americans equal to all others, and experiencing the freedom of being able to take life on, on one's own terms. To make of life what we wanted of it and not just do what was expected of us.

To create, invent, explore what was out there and marvel at the unknown.

Lorraine Schneider poster

Watching the show reminded me of what it was about, that whole "hippie" movement, the"Love Generation". Slogans like "Make love, not war", and "War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things" a poster originally done by Lorraine Schneider.

It reminded me of that feeling of possibility, of hope, of faith, and how fulfilling it was to feel such things. To feel that hope and have a belief that somehow, out there, there was something protecting us greater than ourselves. and not just a "God" of religions. Or the concept that, if we could just figure it out, whatever it was, we could use it to protect us. That there was something outside of our Lives, Religions, our Leaders who had led us into war, or those authorities around the world who weren't making such a great world for us and in some cases, were building a nightmare for other humans under their charge, and the enemies of those people, who really weren't their enemies at all and in some cases, were us through some misunderstanding related to culture, ideology or geography, where we were all supposed to hate one another. Why?

I was shocked many years later to hear a Soviet citizen being interviewed on their streets saying that she was fearful of Americans. They were fearful of us? Because she said, with almost tears of fear in her eyes, that we Americans were the only nation in the history of the world who had dropped not only one but two atomic bombs on a civilian population of another country. Years after that I was again surprised to hear yet another Soviet citizen say that they actually liked American people whom they had met.

So they weren't the evil Communists after all, that we had for decades been led to believe they were. And though we were scared of them, they honestly had far more reason to be afraid of us, than we should have been of them.

It makes you think.

Watching the Smother's Brothers show brought all this back up again. To realize those 1960s feelings of hope, excitement at the possibilities in life, of wonder at the opening up of the universe to us, and to our minds. We need to remember that hope though it is something that we seldom get in life.

We find it in Science Fiction. Sometimes, in human interest stories. But not much anymore like we did in the 60s. That was a time of unique experiences that shimmered out into the culture as more and more people experienced things like transcendental meditation, smoking pot, "dropping acid", alternate ways of thinking outside the box, and so on. I'm not advocating drug usage, I'm advocating thinking, thinking in new ways, thinking in ways that push us upward and onward.

Those feelings of hope and adventure back then were palpable and real. Hope was giving us a chance to make things new and different. Now we just seem to have new, new technologies mostly. It gave us faith back then, if not so much faith in religion and God, in ourselves. Religious or not, that is always the first step. Whether God made us or not, or exists or not, we were put here to achieve and to rely on our "God given" talents, to make our way, to take care of others, to build on what we have, and to appreciate what we have achieved. If offering that up to God was how appreciating it was supposed to be, then you simply did that.

But more and more what we saw were people who were self-actualizing and when they did that they began to realize, that it was them who had made the differences in life. All the prayers and proffering they had been told all their lives were the way and the salvation, it finally became obvious... something was wrong. We began to question if what we had been told all our lives, were true. Or if someone had been sorely mistaken. Maybe, all of us.

The 60s were the "Age of Aquarius" and it could be now, again. Maybe it would be called something else now as after all, time has passed.

According to Astrology Zone (yeah, yeah I know but don't fade on me now, check this out):

"The age before the Age of Aquarius was the Age of Pisces. Since the earth is moving in retrograde motion, we have just left the Age of Pisces, which marked the years 1-2000 AD. This time coincides with the age of Christ and Christianity. Pisces is the sign known for universal love, compassion, self-sacrifice, altruism, creativity, intuition and deep spirituality. This Piscean mindset has been the way humanity has approached the world since we evolved and has colored everything that we have encountered during that period.

"Early Christians used the symbol of the fish (symbol of Pisces) as a secret symbol of their faith. The emphasis on washing of the feet as a ritual signifying purification of the spirit ties into Pisces symbolism as well, for Pisces rules the feet. Pisces "carry" the cares of others and often have sore feet. Christ spoke of his role as servant to his flock, which is also a very Pisces notion. Pisces says, "I believe," whereas Aquarius, the age we are in now, says, "Prove it to me scientifically." "

My point in all this is this. What happened to that excitement in life, and in the universe? It was replaced by what we had before, the 1950s. Have we really been evolving all that much since then? Stagnating may be more like it. We've advanced some culturally and retrograded some culturally. Technological and financial breakthroughs galore have occurred, but what about the adventure of the Human race? Or of Humanity's quality of life?

Why are we still working harder, only for corporations and the rich to live easier and make more off of everyone else's backs? Much of which those of the rich really don't even need? I'm not saying being rich is bad. Or that people shouldn't be allowed to strive to have more than others, I'm just saying at at some point, there is only so much to go around and for only a few to have so much, and for too many to have so very little, is in itself, too much.

We need to get back to an age of "waking up culturally" as we were in the 60s. When we did that it scared the hell out of those in charge and in the end, their power petered out into what, a "War on Drugs" to distract the masses. As if that was what had caused the upheaval, rather than a growing realization of the possibilities in life beyond 9-5 work days.

The next time you have a decision to make, or see a news piece on how things are in the world, try to consider it through a filter of what was meant in being in the, "Age of Aquarius". Try to see things outside the box we've been compressed into. Try to see that box. See behind the box to those who built it. And see if you don't see that we should, and we can, raise the quality of our lives, and of that of the Human Race in it's entirety.

Because wonder, is always the first step to making things better.