Isn't it funny how as much as we do change we never really do?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Understanding
What is it that we understand?
That is, if we can understand anything.
Not to be confused by the existentialist question of whether we can accumulate knowledge, the question of understanding, though similar is really quite different. When we acquire information, which is essentially the knowledge of a fact, or more precisely a fact that we accept in our current paradigm of acceptance, we are adding to the ever-growing sand pile of certainty in our mind. Of course there are processes such as our individual perception, censorship, among others, but when it comes down to it: you typically accept information as fact if you had no prior knowledge of it.
It is true, that the flow of information is ever-expanding, but still it is indeed limited to a certain extent. But that being said, the possible interpretations of the knowledge acquired is unlimited. Yet, given all of these possibilities, the human mind seems to want to turn the information at hand into a simplified version of it to comprehend it. My question is: why?
When we try to understand a topic or fact, do we not want to understand it in its own entirety? By associating the information coming at you with generalizations as an attempt at relativity, we are bound to lose a great deal of that information as a compromise or discrepancy to understand it. In this process, since we lose information is it fair to say that we do not understand the topic, seeing as we do not understand it in its entirety?
Since our interpretation, and understanding comes from generalizations, i believe that the only things we can truly understand are some fundamental principles that have a vague, and broad scope of interpretation. These are things such as laws, theories, and emotions. But since laws and theories can be changed or debunked, that only leaves our emotions.
Emotion can be the one thing that we can truly understand, because only we ourselves can know why we are having that emotion, and how exactly it is making us feel. Yet still, there is not one person that can truly describe their emotions, or figure out precisely what mix of thoughts and experiences have inspired them.
This leads me to my conclusion, and hypothesis... The only way we can understand, is throughout observing ourselves, and trying to channel our feelings into a self-generated interpretation. To do this, we must strive to find the correct symbols through the art of language to express our own emotions. If we can come to this, even if our interpretation is not right, at least we can understand what it means to us. From language, we can take our experiences and through logic make them concrete understandings, and later allow our understanding to progress and evolve with the expanding stream of information in the world.
The information in this world may be limited, but the wisdom it can produce is not.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Rocker
Guitar Hero Culture:
A society where everyone wants to be a rock-star,
but is too lazy to learn the chords.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Watching Cars
All of our lives, all we do is watch cars.
Every car that goes by, we notice something. A loose hub-cap, a recent car wash, or maybe you just re-familiarize yourself with what you once knew the car to be.
Usually its the same flock of cars that comes at you constantly: the Hondas, the Fords, etc... But every so often you get the chance to see an exotic car. The Ferraris, the Lamborghinis, etc...
From this sight you notice so much: the elegant curves, the beautiful sound from the engine, the rumble underneath your sole. All of this is new, rare and consequently exhilarating; in turn you find yourself doing almost anything to catch even the smallest last glimpse of the auto.
As you return your vision to the area you were observing before, you find yourself thinking, reminiscing of the car. Every photo you'd seen in a magazine, every wallpaper you've downloaded of it, all lead up to that brief period of time before the car had left you in the dust.
Eventually your memory becomes distorted, and you're no longer sure whether your memory serves you correctly or whether it has transcended into more of your imagination.
After this realization you actually start concentrating on every passing car yet again. Then comes the sudden rush of realization that every car that went by became unnoticed while you reminisced over the rarity. Every Ford, every Honda; you realize that they were there, but to you its as none of them existed. Over time, you seem to gain confidence and start observing and noticing things in the ordinary again; yet you subconsciously know that another exotic car is bound to pass eventually, and the anticipation, the fantasy, and the excitement begins yet again, all too soon.
Now... The cars are not really cars, they are experiences.
We seem to neglect the fact that every car has some worth to it, and every car has a story, so as that Ford passes, for you its nothing but a Ford, but to the driver its their Ford. And as such to every other car you see on the freeway. Every car has some value to it, but its not until we start discussing the ordinary cars that we see that from every time we noticed something we have learned so much about them, and formulated full opinions of them; as to us, they are reality, and we do not need to resort to memory and imagination to comprehend them, as the accumulated amount of times that we noticed that one detail does it for us.
Cars can be powerful things, they can serve as symbols for goals and ambitions, they can be the necessity of your everyday life, or they can be just another speck in the flow of traffic.
But the next time you catch yourself looking at a rare car, don't forget to get your scope back in place before you miss out on something that could already be past you.
Whether your exotic car is love, success, family, or maybe a car itself, know when to let go of the experience of seeing it, because just as big of a motivator as it can be, it can also be an even greater obstruction.
"Fill your life with as many moments and experiences of joy and passion as you humanly can. Start with one experience and build on it"
-Marcia Wieder
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Transformation
"He closed his eyes as walter kovacs and said "mother". he opened them as Rorschach"Never Compromise.
Sometimes we have to redefine ourselves. Time changes, Reality changes, and likewise people should as well. We always put limits on ourselves, and always think through a specific paradigm; as a result we stall behind while it seems everyone keeps progressing. Dont be afraid to evolve, and dont be afraid to let go of your fear. Evolution is a step forward in the search for truth, and the truth of oneself. The only person that can tell you what is right is you. Never Compromise.
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Education
"people need to stop planning for life and realize that they're living it. take yourself out of the system and find an interest. you never learn from what you're taught"
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Watchmaker
"the release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking... the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. if only i had known, i should have become a watchmaker."
-Albert Einstein
-Albert Einstein
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The Sermon
"No one knows I've done something wrong. Imagine the isolation. Now you see the world as through a window. On one side of the glass: happy, untroubled people, and on the other side: You.
... There are those of you in this church today who know exactly the crisis of faith I describe. And I want to say to you: DOUBT can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone."
John Patrick Shanley
... There are those of you in this church today who know exactly the crisis of faith I describe. And I want to say to you: DOUBT can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone."
John Patrick Shanley
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The Observer
Why is it that those who observe, those who try to learn, to understand are often those who can't? We go through life as evolutionary creatures, those who try to understand the world around them, yet when we really think about it, there is only so much we could know until a single truth can reverse all of the previous knowledge.
Artists, scientists, mothers, children, us; everyone tries to find answers. Not necessarily an answer which is universally true, but at least is true to themselves. When we search, we are searching for a simplification, the human mind is not satisfied with a loose end. My question is: why should this simplification exist in the first place? Why do we choose the easy route? The answer really is that there is no easy route. On our path to enlightenment, we are faced with the difficulty of making a connection, a relevancy. The problem is, that our brain is essentially a room full of an infinite amount of wires, and even though it is not the case that only one could fit, we essentially bestow ourselves not only with a new task, but another piece that we will place into the inter-connected circuit board that never ends. We do this so often that we forget to understand the beauty of the action, for example, can you imagine the first time you learned to ride a bike? When we made all of the connections in our mind, we could experience a feeling we had never before, and it was certainly not a question of achieving a physical goal now was it? Every time we have a conclusive train of thought, you experience a similar sensation to that of riding your first bike, but since you have so many of these experiences, your enlightenment seems no brighter than a single lighter flame.
The problem is that much more often than not, we choose to find answers in a subject matter which there is no simple task of finding a center of balance such as that of your bike. Scientists spend their entire lives peeking through a telescope to determine or predict the behavior of a particle which they themselves have a countless amount of. Artists try to create amplified situations which we experience in life so that we can relate an amplified emotion to a lesser one in our own life.
Perhaps the most observed instance in life is none other than the phenomenon of love. A feeling which most experience, but none in the same way. This is exactly why it is so interesting for us to take a look at it, we place our attention in the heart of another for the attempt of trying to understand all of the emotions and feelings that they themselves experience. Since we will never get the same answer from any two instances, the attempt of trying to understand will never seem dull. Even then we try to typecast scenarios, when really there are too many variables existent, and we make it seem as though it is possible. Doing such a thing is like pointing in the sky in trying to single out a single star and holding the position, because you may be right for a second, but because the earth rotates we must change our fingers position frequently. Since it takes us such a long time for us to formulate an answer, the task of understanding such a monumental phenomenon is impossible. One father will never understand another father's love, as he will only relate and compare it to his own, and a woman will never be able to grasp a single point in any father's love. We assign the word 'love' as a symbol for the stir of emotions one could endure from relationship with anything; anything meaning books, bugs, women, men, even air ducts.
The reason why an observer can not understand anything, is because the observer cannot experience what they are observing, therefor the only thing they can comprehend is the idea of observing the specific thing that they themselves are.
Instead of understanding, perhaps we should re-consider and think of the beauty of the moment, otherwise one could never be satisfied with what they find, since there is no such thing as universality.
Artists, scientists, mothers, children, us; everyone tries to find answers. Not necessarily an answer which is universally true, but at least is true to themselves. When we search, we are searching for a simplification, the human mind is not satisfied with a loose end. My question is: why should this simplification exist in the first place? Why do we choose the easy route? The answer really is that there is no easy route. On our path to enlightenment, we are faced with the difficulty of making a connection, a relevancy. The problem is, that our brain is essentially a room full of an infinite amount of wires, and even though it is not the case that only one could fit, we essentially bestow ourselves not only with a new task, but another piece that we will place into the inter-connected circuit board that never ends. We do this so often that we forget to understand the beauty of the action, for example, can you imagine the first time you learned to ride a bike? When we made all of the connections in our mind, we could experience a feeling we had never before, and it was certainly not a question of achieving a physical goal now was it? Every time we have a conclusive train of thought, you experience a similar sensation to that of riding your first bike, but since you have so many of these experiences, your enlightenment seems no brighter than a single lighter flame.
The problem is that much more often than not, we choose to find answers in a subject matter which there is no simple task of finding a center of balance such as that of your bike. Scientists spend their entire lives peeking through a telescope to determine or predict the behavior of a particle which they themselves have a countless amount of. Artists try to create amplified situations which we experience in life so that we can relate an amplified emotion to a lesser one in our own life.
Perhaps the most observed instance in life is none other than the phenomenon of love. A feeling which most experience, but none in the same way. This is exactly why it is so interesting for us to take a look at it, we place our attention in the heart of another for the attempt of trying to understand all of the emotions and feelings that they themselves experience. Since we will never get the same answer from any two instances, the attempt of trying to understand will never seem dull. Even then we try to typecast scenarios, when really there are too many variables existent, and we make it seem as though it is possible. Doing such a thing is like pointing in the sky in trying to single out a single star and holding the position, because you may be right for a second, but because the earth rotates we must change our fingers position frequently. Since it takes us such a long time for us to formulate an answer, the task of understanding such a monumental phenomenon is impossible. One father will never understand another father's love, as he will only relate and compare it to his own, and a woman will never be able to grasp a single point in any father's love. We assign the word 'love' as a symbol for the stir of emotions one could endure from relationship with anything; anything meaning books, bugs, women, men, even air ducts.
The reason why an observer can not understand anything, is because the observer cannot experience what they are observing, therefor the only thing they can comprehend is the idea of observing the specific thing that they themselves are.
Instead of understanding, perhaps we should re-consider and think of the beauty of the moment, otherwise one could never be satisfied with what they find, since there is no such thing as universality.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Ten
Watch "The Ten", a film highly acclaimed, and just as ignored which was released in 2007, featuring the likes of paul rudd (that apatow guy), jon hamm (that mad men guy), adam brody (that OC guy), and jessica alba (... you better know), among many many others. Watch it HERE.
Earlier today i had a brief discussion with regard to religion, and what it means to everyone, so what better what to carry on the mood with a comedy? There really is no other way to describe this film other than telling you the premise... Ten short films, each dedicated to one of the ten commandments and the potential consequences. My personal favourites are murder, and cheating, and an honorable mention goes to jealousy. I must warn you though, the tenth and last commandment requires some serious discretion, and is not recommended to homophobes. This is a great example of how sometimes art provides an extreme case can tie in with an example from most lives, and I really cant complain about the humor... Or Jessica Alba.
Bonus: George Carlin on the ten commandments (genius)... Click HERE.
"The two commandments: i) thou shalt always me honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie. ii) thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone...
... as long as they included another one: thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself."
Earlier today i had a brief discussion with regard to religion, and what it means to everyone, so what better what to carry on the mood with a comedy? There really is no other way to describe this film other than telling you the premise... Ten short films, each dedicated to one of the ten commandments and the potential consequences. My personal favourites are murder, and cheating, and an honorable mention goes to jealousy. I must warn you though, the tenth and last commandment requires some serious discretion, and is not recommended to homophobes. This is a great example of how sometimes art provides an extreme case can tie in with an example from most lives, and I really cant complain about the humor... Or Jessica Alba.
Bonus: George Carlin on the ten commandments (genius)... Click HERE.
"The two commandments: i) thou shalt always me honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie. ii) thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone...
... as long as they included another one: thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself."
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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