28x36" oil paint monoprint

poem

 (untitled)

When it's pretty clear

the fear shall not clear—

indeed it seems

thicker than ever and

more difficult

to see through

to truth and solutions

to get us through

life without purpose;

only knowing the plate to eat and

the pillow to sleep.

Surely there is love and vision,

a path out of our present darkness;

surely.

poem

(untitled)

It would be nice if just one person

were interested in my poetry;

where they could comment anonymously;

where they were aware all versification

is composed of two things--sound and sense:

what does it say about existence

and how does it sound to say it?

The reason why it would be nice

is because I don't have a muse

and composing is easier

with inspiration; if only

that one were listening.

poem

 

(untitled)

Descending through the symphony

of cloud to see the topography

of Earth—tan, green, and blue,

where you know what prison it is

and why, and how

to loose the knot;

derived from the steady attention

of silent decades;

to descend through

the quiet orchestra

into the cacophony;

bring it into tune

where water, rock, and life

vibrate mutually

simultaneously;

descending through

the symphony.

An old photo which could suddenly mean everything; time will tell.

 

Mini-Curricula

I've went back to substitute teaching for Santa Barbara Unified some weeks ago and began working on a mini-curricula for grade schoolers; of course it can be attenuated depending on the grade presented to. I reviewed the government education code and found a statute which I believe backs this. It's not perfected, but pretty close.

Begin Lecture (all caps written on board):

“Let’s start with a question: Does anyone here like being told what to do?”

“That’s why this moment is so important for you, because if you excel in grade school you’ll go to college, and at college is where they ask you what you want to do. So if you don’t like being told what to do, the things I want to share today are things not found in text books…. Anyone been out to the library at UCSB? It’s a really nice library, and they have tons of textbooks and scholarly papers about anything under the Sun. And all that information out there on the campus is what those books point to—but isn’t taught. So this mini-lecture is like a map that you’ll want to keep—you might look at it two years from now and see stuff you didn’t see today, or be glad for the reminder, so will everyone please clear their desk, and take out a sheet of paper with something to write. Everything I write on the board you to write on your paper. Leave two or three lines in-between each thing we write, so that when we finish, we can circle back and add notes and clarify if we need to.”

NEVER ACCEPT ANYTHING AS TRUE UNLESS I CLEARLY KNOW IT TO BE SO

“Everyone got that across the top of the page? Ok, who knows what’s true? What’s something you or the rest of us clearly know to be true?”

Replies/Discourse

“Anyone ever heard or read something which was relayed to you as the truth, but with time, turned out not to be true at all? Yeah, it’s kind of annoying? No one wants to be annoyed, so first step in escaping all that, is knowing an important tool.”

PARADIGM/CONTINUUM

“Anyone ever seen these words? They mean the same thing. They mean a spectrum of possibilities between opposites.”

LIGHT

“What’s the opposite?”

Line from Light to DARK

HOT

“The opposite?”

Line from Hot to COLD

“What are other opposites?”

Response/discourse

conscious/unconscious

proper/improper

alive/dead

industrious/idle

proper/improper

Intelligence/Stupidity*

“So those are paradigms or continuums, and an important tool.”

I THINK, THEREFORE I AM

“What is thinking? Is there another name for it? Consciousness.”

“So really, what this statement is saying is: I know I’m thinking—I know I’m experiencing consciousness—and that means I exist. Back in the 1500s, seven hundred years ago, that was an important idea which had never been thought before. In the timeline of human thought it was a foundational moment.”

“Now, who else besides humans have consciousness? Animals. Our pets and wild creatures have consciousness. So we know animals are conscious too, but animals don’t have a written language—they don’t talk about art and science or download music.”

SENTIENCE/SAPIENCE

“Sentience is animal consciousness—the ability to catch prey and survive—to ability to live another day. Sapience is just like Sentience but with the added capability to reflect and imagine the future.”

SURVIVE — REFLECT/IMAGINE under Sentience/Sapience

“If animals could reflect and imagine the future we would have proof of it—there’d already be dog scientists and cat disco singers—and they’d have their own clubs and places to hang out. So we know we’re experiencing consciousness, because we’re thinking, and because we’re thinking, we know we exist; and we know we’re sharing Earth with animals—but what is existence? What are all these buildings and roads and and movies and spaceships? What is all this?”

CIVILIZATION

“We’re all existing in a civilization. The first known civilization dates back about 5,000 years ago, and let’s stop and think about that a minute: because humans are always different a hundred years or so later than they were before. For instance, a hundred years ago humans had to rely on horses to get somewhere, but now we have cars. If we break down 5,000 years into 100 year segments—because after hundred years, new inventions and ways of doing things come along and change attitudes and how people approach existence. I mean if someone said we’re gonna go visit family and friends down in Los Angeles, but it’s going to take three days, and a horse is going to pull us in the wagon—you’d probably be like—nah, I’ll wait for a taxi. Some of you might think a horse and wagon ride sounds fun, and maybe it would be for a an hour or so, but then you’d want to call an Uber. So time and change alters the attitudes of people and the people themselves; and if we break civilization in hundred-year segments—because the first civilization was about 5,000 years ago—and 5,000 divided by 100 is 50 means humans have been though about 50 different civilizations before ours—the one we’re existing in now. We’re the latest humans to experience civilization—no one else has been here like we are now. A hundred years it will be other humans, and a hundred years after that, other humans—but we’re here now, the current eyes and ears of our species—and that’s pretty exciting. Not only are we a unique civilization, each one of us is a unique entity of consciousness—because no one is born at the same time in the same place, with the same pieces of information to survive.”

SAME TIME/SAME PLACE/SAME INFO = NO ONE

“OK, so here we are the latest and greatest, yet the main components of civilization have always been the same—years ago, now, or in the future—civilization is made up of only a few things. Anyone want to make some guesses?”

Replies

LAWS/SCIENCES/ARTS

“Let’s start with Laws. We all know what a stop sign is. Anyone want to guess when and where the world’s first stop sign emerged? The year was 1919 in Detroit Michigan. Anyone want to guess why the first stop sign emerged there? Right—with the advent of the automobile, humans started getting in auto-accidents. So the people alive then decided we needed stop signs. The law is that an intersection where roads cross, an automobile shall come to a complete stop at a stop sign. The letter of the law is the word shall.

SHALL—MANDATORY—NON—DISCRETIONARY

“Meaning the driver and car must stop—and the spirit behind that is—we don’t want people getting hurt in a crash. Anyone want to guess what word is at the opposite end of shall?”

MAY—DISCRETIONARY/PERMISSIVE—YOU DECIDE

“So, all laws are composed of two things.”

LETTER/SPIRIT under Laws

“There are lots of different societies in civilization, but we’re part of American Society—what is the highest law of American society? The highest law in this country is known as the Constitution.”

CONSTITUTION

“Now, if you ever read it, it has the word shall written all over it, just like the law for a stop sign uses the word shall, so does the Constitution.

ARISTOCRACY/DEMOCRACY

“Who knows what an aristocracy is? Does anyone know of any royals? Who knows what a Democracy is? Does anyone know of any leaders?”

“The Constitution is what makes us a democracy, because Americans want to pick leaders instead of being told what to do by a single family and their friends—which is an aristocracy.” 

RULERS/LEADERS under Aristocracy/Democracy

7 ARTICLES/27 AMENDMENTS under Constitution

“The Constitution is composed of 7 articles and 27 amendments.”

STRUCTURAL/CIVIL under 7/27

“The articles are the structural law and the amendments are the civil law. The articles tell us what rules everyone is playing by, and the amendments are additions to the rules, based on what the latest humans determined were needed—ideas based on new discoveries and attitudes. For instance, when our country won independence from an aristocracy and became a democracy—for many years afterwards, females weren’t allowed to vote and were denied participation in the discussion about where we want to go from here. After awhile some humans began reflecting—using their sapience—and determined that it was unjust. Whaddaya mean women can’t vote? That’s bogus! And it wasn’t just women saying it, a lot of men fought for it too. But many times you'll hear adults saying what geniuses the people who wrote the Constitution; but really it’s just a document—a social contract—based on common sense. All the people who framed the Constitution were readers, back when we just had horses and firewood, there wasn’t a whole bunch to do, so people read a lot. All those guys read history and knew that whatever government is set up—Aristocracy or Democracy—it eventually becomes corrupt and you have to hit the reset button. So the Constitution is really just a giant stop sign for corruption and aristocracy. We’ll get back to the Constitution if we have time, but for now—it’s a game plan, a rudimentary legal device to move into the future justly and with equal protections.”

“So that is law—composed of letter and spirit—written to protect individuals and society from unnecessary harm and injustice.”

“Now let’s examine the Sciences and Arts. One thing to know about them is that they are two sides of the same coin. They are a paradigm/continuum in and of themselves—where on the spectrum does science become art and where is art a science? You can’t create a painting without knowing the science behind materials—you have to know what water paint can do, as opposed to what oil paint can do; or if you’re a musician you can’t create the sound you’re after without knowing what instrument makes what sound and why.”

“Same with science—you can have all the materials to conduct an experiment, but there’s an art to figuring out the best way to find the information you’re wanting to know.”

“So the sciences and arts are the same; they are ongoing endeavors built on everything that has already been said or discovered. We might say the Sciences are concerned with the BIG OUTSIDE—the physical realm—water, rocks, planets, stars, and the universe—and the Arts are concerned the the BIG INSIDE—emotion, feelings, and philosophy. And of course they both demonstrate our ability to reflect and imagine, our Sapience.”

“Now, an important thing to know about the Sciences and Arts is what their primary purpose is. Everyone knows what a hammer is, and if you go to a local job site—cause we’re always building new buildings—anyone know anywhere in town where some new buildings are going up?”

“So if you go to that job site, you might see one of builders using their hammer as a paperweight, because it’s windy and they need to study the plans. Or maybe they need a door to stay open to move new materials into a room, so they can use a hammer as a door-stop, right? So a hammer can be used as a paper-weight or door-stop, but what is its primary purpose? To drive nails into lumber.”

“It’s the same thing with the Sciences and Arts—they both have a primary purpose too. Anyone want to guess what they are? Let’s take the Sciences first.”

“If the Sciences are concerned with the Big Outside, then the primary purpose of science is to make existence more livable with less suffering. For instance, medicine is a science and humans have figured out medicines to save people from suffering. Anyone got an example where science created less suffering? So science can be used to entertain—someone had to figure out the science for a laptop and programs for games—but it’s primary purpose is to reduce suffering.”

“Now let’s do the Arts. If the Arts are concerned with the Big Inside, then its primary purpose is what? Anyone want to guess?”

“We know art can be used to decorate—to make a space more interesting and pleasing. And we know art can be used to entertain—to make the best looking video or movie with the best story—but its primary purpose is to change how we see ourselves as individuals and a society. For instance, the novel is a form of art, and a hundred years ago someone wrote one about a little boy and girl who had to work in a food processing plant. It was about how they had to work long hours in dangerous conditions with a bunch of dirt on the floor. That novelist created a story which made everyone upset and made the leaders create new laws about how old you had to be to work, and how sanitary the conditions had to be. So the primary purpose of art is to change how we see ourselves, but what’s another way of saying that? The primary purpose is to raise consciousness—to show us a better way to exist.”

MATTER/MIND

YIN/YANG SYMBOL

“Everyone has seen this symbol, right? It was born out of civilization because over the centuries humans began to realize existence itself is a paradigm. This is the ultimate paradigm or continuum. We know life exists—because we’re here—we know life is part of all the non-life water and rocks in space which create stars and planets and, somehow life. There are various theories on how and why life exists, but we know existence is composed of the physical realm and the mental realm.”

THE UNIVERSE IS TRANSFORMATION AND LIFE IS OPINION

“So there’s the physical realm, that never stops changing and transforming—the ocean never goes still and mountains never stop crumbling—and there’s mental realm—our human sapience—so existence can be boiled down to a physical reality and our thoughts and feelings in reaction to it.”

OPINION

“Of all the paradigms and continuums Opinion is a really important one.”

SUBJECTIVE/OBJECTIVE under Opinion.

“Let’s examine this paradigm for a minute: What is the best car? What is the best Vacation? What is the best Food?”

Write REPLIES

“So, these are all examples of opinion—some think a Lamborgini is the best car, some think Hawaii is the best vacation, some think Pizza is the best food, but these opinions are are subjective—they are true for the individual. A lot of people have a favorite sports team they think is the best—and that’s subjective too—but let’s use it to explain objective opinion. To those who don’t have a favorite team, or sports aren’t a focus—we’re not going to talk sports—we’re just going to use it to demonstrate the difference between the Subjective and Objective. Who has a favorite sports team?”

“Ok, if you’re a die-hard fan, you know if they won or lost their last game, you know who they’re playing next—you know who’s out injured your team and the opponent—all that information—and from those facts you’ll be able to make an Objective opinion about what team will win. Game time arrives, your team wins, and you turn out to be correct.

“In other words, objective opinion is based on the facts, and with time, can become a fact itself, whereas subjective opinion is based on individual preference, and will never be a fact. And the people who consistently make objective opinions which with time turn out to be fact, are people we call intelligent.”

“Now, as you know, some humans, when confronted with the enormity of existence and their circumstance within it, choose to leave existence and kill themselves. The number of people who do that for whatever reason—even if they were so full of confusion—they couldn’t take it anymore—that percentage of people is relatively small compared to the whole.”

“This tells us something very important about existence, it tells us that over all it must be good, otherwise we’d all kill ourselves and humanity would cease to exist. Now, if we know existence is good, because the majority of us are pursuing it, then that means all moral arguments can be properly determined by identifying where unnecessary harm is occurring. Some people might think that two women being in love or two men being in love is harmful, but that’s a subjective opinion, that’s not an objective fact.”

LOVE

“What’s the opposite of love? Some are saying HATE, but is that accurate? Why does anyone hate something?”

“It’s because they fear it. You can fear someone because the things they are saying aren’t true, and you fear people being mislead or lied to—or you can fear something and the harm it can do—and that’s where hate comes from—fear. So the accurate paradigm, and opposite of Love is FEAR.”

MORALITY

“Here is another paradigm.”

MORAL/IMMORAL

(examples)

“Now, in the science of sociology—or, the study of humans—are two terms.”

MORES/FOLKWAYS

“Mores are the things that no one in society or civilization can do—such as kill someone else. And Folkways are the things that aren’t criminal, but you just don’t do because no one else does it—like pick up food from a buffet with your hand. And of course folkways vary based on the culture.”