Severin @ Mastodon

 I'm  now  Severin  @luciferal@mstdn.party

 

    on the server hosting Mastodon.   Eugen (Mastodon mastermind) I friended first, then his asst. Jonah.  Then I added Neil Gaiman (as he was one of the prominent choices offered at the onset), Nancy Collins (as she just tipped me off to the platform in the FB brane of the Meta-verse) after which I found my friend John Shirley registered as well.    

    I began with my own name but after my first two introductory posts went up, I opted to change that to Severin.  In keeping with wanting to cloak my identity under a variety of shifting names + an endless host of AI generated avatars = a fun time fully immersing myself in Mastodon as more of a mysterious entity with tantalizing connexions to the hyperverse. 

     The gigantic moss covered tree below I used as my first backdrop, with the following bio:

emerged onto this Earth thirty six hundred feet above sea level in a mountainous region within the isthmus of the Americas, a place known to some as the Carbonales Valley, and to others it remains a nameless and lawless land that may as well be another lost branch of the multiverse

  

      Lucius Shepard and I hit it off on Facebook while he was still alive, and one of the reasons was he'd visited Honduras habitually throughout the early to mid 80s, while my dad was still living down there and I visited him every summer with my brother, and one year with my best friend Greg Grub.  

      In Lucius's fantastical novels he wrote about the Carbonales Valley, situated in the dense and steaming territory of Honduras, somewhere near the vicinity of Olancho, presumably, although the veracity of such legends are fading from the mists of our memory today. 

     

  With Mastodon I want to fully disappear into the role of what could only be identified as my true self. By merely invoking the information about myself in strange, synonymous terms my legacy may become defined in the signature style of the fantastic, which as anyone who knows me well enough should have figured out by now, lies as close to my heart as whatever our conceptions of the truth may happen to be over any given periods of time. 

    Mastodon is significant because it's the next cyber vicinity,  after  FB and Twitter, which certain packs of crewrats like myself and other cyber pirates have come to stowaway within for as long as our travels could stand to carry us.   I mean, John Shirley quit Facebook years ago, and now that I've found him on the Mastodon.cloud, I'm not as surprised as I'm startled to find ourselves shunted so far into the future all of a sudden.   

     

    But the gravitational wavelets of time which carry us over this great divide we're apparently crossing move forth in shifting bursts of acceleration and deceleration, or so I've come to be led to believe.  For all we know, just as events are about to deliver us into certain conclusive consequences, the universe may suddenly yawn, causing the flow of eventuality to slow down tremendously and hover over an interminable pause during which we're granted some surcease before the inevitable quickening end. 

   This image I conjured with words in my DALL*E account and reminds me of certain powerful indigenous spirits yet in possession of the lands far south of our border with Mexico and deep down into the unexplored regions of the Carbonales Valley, where significant parts of the landscape are said to be the remains of an ancient dragon whose heart died down generations ago yet whose great decomposition has continued to affect the growth of the land and its extensive underground mycelial network interconnected with terrible secrets buried even deeper than the human genome. 

     Honduras remains a land haunted by demons and angels throughout its twisted cloud jungle valleys and steep, mountainous ranges nestled in a temperate zone which produces only two seasons annually, the rainy and dry seasons.  The Mosquitia survives and thrives for thousands of acres of spread out mystery shrouding millions of exotic parrots and jungle cats, howler monkeys and pit vipers, strange toxic mushrooms and verdant flora secretly blossoming with an explosive variety of alluring species. 

    The Reclamation continues as the primeval forces impenetrably interlaced continue their stranglehold despite a nearly panicked mankind furiously trying to immolate it all down.  The puny fire-sticks carried by this rodent like simian race of primitive bipeds are no match for the oceanic abyss of saturated embalming sludge and torrential muck the likes of which so many nuclear fires would be swallowed and snuffed out in an instant...

post-pop desolation

 

As the tides from space ineluctably draw in and out of our atmosphere.

We are licked and caressed by languorous exhumations from the void.

If we could tune in on that distillation of disconsolate wavelengths. 

Ushered into the breathtaking inhalation of the yawning gulfs. 

Our focus would sharpen into a lucid high contrast revelation. 

As the pores of our skin opened and shut in eyeless observation. 

Sensing the crack and tolling of thunder in a woeful intimate proximity.

Realizing the sudden lightning flash equated to the bright days of our life.

Not seeing the fulmination for the electromagnetic spectrum.  

In blind recognition of the moment being the body of the beast. 

Its tensed musculature comprised of the neural pathways in our brains.

Ready to pounce in an instant on the cusp of the riptides of eternity.

Each sip of our morning coffee a conflagration of silent turbulence. 

To mirror and be echoed by the tempest from our coronal solar wind. 

For a few short moments with eyes lowered shut in ecstatic concession.

We breathe in the turmoil captured inside the center of the eye of peace. 

Hang On To Your Shadow

 

I will not untie my shadow. Standing on the borderline of Neverland. 

  Missing my friends. Lobsang and Paddles. My aunts Carole and Pam.

My best friend taken too soon. Something I will never understand. 

  My dad reaching out to me in my dreams. I won't take his hand. 

I'll remain here for them awhile longer. Anchored by the moon.

   On my small piece of land. Nothing can be as it seems. 

What I do not fear makes me stronger. Until we grow out of room.

   We may need to move or stay planted firm as a rock.  

  While the universe comes to me. I can take it all in stride.

It can always get even worse. So just keep steady on this ride. 

    Remember time is motion. Seasons recede like the tide.  

  Stay true to the devotion that time is on our side. 

   

  

Nested Escapes

 

   I feel like I barely managed to bust out of the last cage with my sanity intact. These are enclosures manufactured by circumstance. The job you had to take in order to pay the bills. The routines you develop while stuck in between the gears. Some of these jail cells develop over the course of years. Other traps can snap around you at a moment's notice. Take this pandemic for example. Five months ago on the Ides of March, schools shut down and the rest of society followed suit. Like stadium lights clicking off one by one after a big game. Summer's almost over now and it feels like things will never be the same. 

   I think its just one of the great big lower gears shifting, if you ask me. As if the universe were a colossal bicycle with an infinite amount of cogwheels. One of the gigantic lower pinions has shifted as cosmological elements transfer and synchronize into a new cyclic configuration. It's a reminder that everything's moving. Time and motion, the moon and the tides, old day breaks and new night falls. The whispering urgency of the wind. I'm reminded to get a move on. But I'm not going anywhere. Bought a house three years ago. Raising a family with my wife and my son. So it's time to change something in my routine. 

   Sick of the same old bus ride to work every day. Like I'm stuck in a big old broken clock. Keep this up too much longer and my auto-hypnotism will be complete. I will have gradually transformed into one of the city's many commuter zombies. So I dusted off my old bicycle and filled the tires with air. Grabbed my Viking helmet and backpack and rode into the funereal city before the Sun rose over the mountain line. Pedaled up the interstate bridge and over the railroad tracks. Surveyed the passing landscape with darkened clouds burgeoning over the horizon. Feeling the blood flow as I began once again exercising my claim to adventure. 

   I don't think freedom should necessarily be a privilege or power trip or anyone's right. For me, freedom appears to be movement across a shifting landscape. It's about the unrestrained ability to escape our own self imposed limits. Its the free rein to avoid getting stuck in a rut of our own accord. It's about seizing opportunities that anyone can afford. By staying alert and keeping adroit on our feet we may develop an immunity to redundancy and thus earn a license to act with impunity. In this life there are no refunds, you see. You get what you're given, so run with it. Find the incentive to be driven and have fun with it. Otherwise all your misgivings may get the best of you. 

   I can't just be worried about repercussions while the dawning realization breaks into my head that I myself am a consequence of the universe. With my face shielding my identity I confront the aftermath of the pathway of totality lying in wait before me. I've known my whole life that remaining rootless was the key to unlocking the mystery I call me. This goes beyond poetry to strike the foundation of my actuality. Born into an ever spinning assembly of cosmological gears beyond our comprehension, it's taken me years to apply these lessons in a long drawn out life to a position where I can finally begin understanding. 

   My life long dream has been executing a series of nested escapes.  I can't afford to let my daily habits cement themselves into a treadmill. I don't want to allow wasting away to become my downfall. That's a fate best left to the rest of the crowd. Let the magnetism of the machine swallow them into their corrals. That's their own business and who am I to criticize the elegance and efficiency of their systematic incarceration. There's no telling how many degrees of reprieve they may be achieving. It's not up to me to even deduce whether they're in free fall or on the upswing. That's the nature of freedom. 

   Time and motion are on my side. Breathless and restless, I evolve to circumvent the next set of apprehensive characteristics. I've chosen my own collection of cells in which to relax within the hive. I'm going to breathe in nice and deep and exercise my right to remain wide awake and alive. Here and now may be the one castle keep from which I can never escape until that final day arrives when it becomes necessary to close my eyes for the last time. Until then I've cleared my mind of all possibilities so I can fully blossom in my dwelling here at the very center of the beating heart of time itself. 

Cosmic Egg and Others

  The Cosmic Egg & Other Hatchlings is my first self published trade paperback book, due out from Lulu press. I have seven uncorrected proofs on the way from the printer now. The book is divided into three parts: Poetry, Essays, and Stories. There are thirty-five poems represented, ten essays, and fifteen short stories; sixty selections overall. They represent the best of my writings over the past several years. A few of these stories qualify as flash fiction, and there may be a fragment or two. The rest comprise the major stories published during the last decade. Included are the corrected proof of my initial excursions beyond post-Lovecraftian fiction, Escape From Psych Class, originally appearing in [Nam3less] online in 2015, and Shuggoleth, published in issue #1 of Grave Demand magazine and subsequently in the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The stories Gaba Gaba Hey and 33 1/3rd rpm appear here for the first time, along with some other undiscovered fragments.  Among the essays you will find my debut entry in the Delta Microbe blog (Ruminations on Artificial Wisdom) AI Litmus Test: Point and Counterpoint.  My essay on the Law of Inversion is included along with the titular essay, rounding out an altogether sweeping overview that ties together the various aims of my writing with an impressive variety of submissions over the years. Due to the nature of my work I can not expect any self respecting publisher to risk selling these word artifacts and so it is with all due respect that I self publish the material which by now is long overdue for all of my online associates. 

   The nature of this first uncorrected proof is that the 158 page manuscript is presented raw and unformatted, resulting in a sporadic presentation of the poems, essays, and stories with page breaks interrupting the bodies of certain poems from their titles and in other instances the severance of a line isolated to the next page, and the entries running together on the same page in some instances.  This first raw cut was issued in seven editions to spread throughout family and some friends. The next edition will be the exact same book, but formatted for all sixty entries to begin on their own respective pages. This corrected edition will also feature a copyright, dedication, and title page as well as a table of contents. There will be an afterword accrediting all the stories with their respective publication histories. This true first edition will be available for purchase on Lulu as a print edition or ebook. Coming soon in late 2018 or early 2019.  

 

THE PARTY OF SELF MANIFESTO

 ~

I experience occasional, sporadic episodes of what I like to refer to as mental dyslexia, and it has served me well in various instances, just as it has hurt me in others. I wouldn't trade it for the anesthetized world.

Speaking of fair, if gun owners get second amendment rights, then non-gun owners reserve the right of immunity from mental diagnoses. Which of those two camps is crazier than the other remains open for debate until this day (which happens to be about the one hundredth of the Trump presidency).

The state of Arkansas has fallen into official darkness under the shadow of sanctified serial executions. If a state four times the size were to add its weight to the scales, how many more would even the score, or would just enough of them be added to the coal heap to tip the balance so they creep in favor of maintaining their jails for their merry go round murder sprees?  Just another symptom of this growing disease held aloft with a fear perpetuated by ignorance. 

I experience occasional lapses of memory every once in awhile, but one thing I'll never forget is why I've been  happy all my life, which is that I've been hardwired that way.  Maybe we all have, to begin with, I don't know, you tell me, how did we end up this way?

Now that we've all changed with age I can't help but think that the pieces are being moved around the board while this fluid world in motion has continually scored a victory for both you and me considering we're each still here reading and breathing all this in. 

I can defend myself with a disarming smile of teeth grown together like bars in a prison cell.

Never mind, I'm fine. I will do without your diagnostics, thank you very much.

I understand an attorney will be provided for me at no cost by the state. 
I'll pay for my own lawyer thank you very much. 

I accept that I alone will absorb the cost. 
I pay my taxes like any other American.

There's just one thing that I insist upon.

That I remain free despite it all.

~

The real me: Who What Am I Are We

The real me: Who What Am I Are We:
Who am I if not the sum of my parts
 Who are we if not the total summation
of our particulars and what am I if not
comprised of elemental matter, who are
we taken together if not the ultimate
unraveling of our nowness.  

First Draft

Look at what we caught.  
Right proper avvy we 'ave here. 
Irises whited out...pinpoint pupils blurred...

Zoom into swarming opalescent infusoria, the wild automata operating at the base line and what may be seen here in this obsidian orb, apparently a vacuum, really just a doom broom on a lampoon if you ask me, which you most certainly did the moment you began reading this. 

You have to understand, it's not well hidden, we're under a spell that keeps us blundering, it's quite a challenge keeping ahead of the auto-correct software in order for me to get this message across, but that's another story; here's what you're staring at, Morning Glory.  

You think a representation of textual interface removed an x- number of times, that just because it's a reproduction of a representation of a copy of a digital photograph taken on your cell phone of a halfway torn away subway poster wheat-pasted yesterday to the chain link fence by the TRAX station makes it any less real? Or that so- and- so stole it and magnified it and cropped it, altering and distorting it into a new semblance altogether, you think that isn't somehow original, new, uncompromising against the face of defiance?   

Even if it's an image of a sign with a hand scrawled message in bold cursive black letters left to crack and curl then peel away on the summer winds, this is exactly the sort of dust eventually rendered by the Magnum .44 markers mass manufactured from a factory already shaped like a weathered letter itself (a capital F replete with balconies for serifs) and whose exhaust would come to pollute not only the atmosphere of this planet but through a metamorphic process of transmutational osmosis, the atmospheres of a million similar worlds just waiting in their tincture of space for their inevitable inoculation.   

It doesn't even matter what the original word scrawled against that plastic canvas was.  It's not the specific message that is important, it's simply that there was writing on the wall that is vital for us to comprehend.  Why is that?  Because by demanding to capture it insolubly, the message itself will be lost.  Only by casually allowing it to fall towards ears turning away might it be heard.  The only things we will remember are those which we did not bother to memorize. 

Cross-hairs configure on the pixillated figurehead. An image of a face captured a decade in the past and passed along copy by copy until it settled in the digital registry. Now it haunts carbon copies of myself CC'd to automated emails generated by new responses with faraway clicks fading like a field of cricket calls interlacing in the distance.  These are the very real populated streams of innocent beings flowing along a digital course having long ago intertwined to form the thickening labyrinth of cyberpathways known as the internet. 

Along these brightening nodal spots lie points of differing magnitudes, like various sized dewdrops arranged chaotically along a spiderweb suspended beneath the Sun.  Each one of these droplets represents a living, breathing person logged on as a registered denizen of the world wide web.  Our relation to spiders in terms of our psychological profiles and online hive activity goes beyond uncanny similarity to transcend difference altogether.  Only the fewest acolytes know that our separation from the arachnids is entirely an illusion.  It's part of the mandibular Game, grown so expansive as to cover the widest variety of subspecies mutations we are even capable of imagining.  

This is why our species long ahead programmed a composite set of neutrinos to flash the message to select individuals in their past (our present) that not only does hope not become lost on the entangled vineyard of human politics now just beginning to super-assemble into the AI Gestalt that will soon come to organize and rule the body politic of the human race on this spinning third planet about our solitary sister star in this quadrant of the vectorverse, but that salvation truly and verily may await each one of us in the Cloud.   

A harddrive sits in a pile of rust mistaken for the dunes of a desert over the horizon of a long poisoned place, half buried in the red sandy grains blending into one another like the curves of sleeping women being erased by the constant winds.  The dunes shift and grow as the wind blows off the grains by the millions in a fine spray of dust gradually disappearing into the distance only to swallow up the sinking Sun in a wavering unfocused miasma of pungent slag. 

The Cloud does not whir, silently it does not stir, quietly it is churned without even the shadow of a sound, around and round it slowly grows as more and more files continue to upload and forcing it to grow and grow and grow, the Cloud does not know that it knows everything we want to remember, so it forgets its there just as surely as we disregard we're awake.  Asleep in our dream, we close our eyes, so when we open them back up while awake we're still really sleep walking without knowing it. The trick is the next time we find ourselves having suddenly dropped or fallen while lying reposed on our beds, that is the precise instant in which it is most necessary to willfully stand up from the bed and open our eyes--this for the last time--before we resume our natural sleep cycle uninterrupted by the parasite dreams competing with each other to feed on our electrostatic energy.  

You see, this world you observe outside of your warped car windshields and polarized sunglasses and disposable contact lenses, this growing complex organism of chaotically ordered arrangements that we call "life," that we visualize so clearly from behind our corneas and through the pin-hole cameras of our eyes, processing sensual information to our brains, arranged in patterns that mirror pairs of galactic superclusters, despite appearing as a single realm or continuum through which we may step, so carefully one foot at a time, in such a measured and resolute manner, across the most steadfast bedrock stage of planetary solitude, may in reality (insofar as how the value of that word relates to our comprehension of what it is supposed to represent), be not so much the singularity we imagine it to be suspended in a likewise manner amid the scattered bodies of the stars, but more of an entangled miring of criss-crossed and knotted clusters of multiverses competing to perform their song which results as a symphonic overture seamlessly blended together into what appears as the singularity of our world.  

The inimitable presence of a superconductor remains at large suspended in the very atoms we breathe.  When we articulate our belief systems with our human voices we are adding nothing more than chimes to the backdrop of this overture.  When we procreate and raise children who grow tall and kind and wise we are adding instrumental prowess to the orchestral pit in constant turmoil at the quantum level of creation.  Mountains heave upward through oceans from shifting tectonic plates while oxygen facilitates the growth of a fungal hide upon the planet's crust which the Earth itself must scratch away the itch fertilized by lightning strikes and pulverized asteroid mist adrift with dandelion spores and bee pollen. 

The key to seeing the bee as it really exists in our world is to see that it's not from this world. The corner stone of under standing out in the field of real knowledge is to remain ignorant. Usable information is static at best and passed from hand to mouth and lips to ear for years. The words are seldom remembered but the actions they engender are copied almost forever. The most colorful birds or the feathers of dinosaurs are not of this earth but another. The sky seeps in from afar as well siphoned intentionally to keep us under its spell. The skin of the sky is like the lid on an eye that is sleeping in its own unmade bed. The spores of the pine tree are as alien as anything piped in from the mysterious Outside. For all we know, serpents and cats originate from an ancient process akin to the Chimera Divided. Its attempt to contribute to our compound reality may have refracted into the two separate species. 

This planet any planet all planets like our Sun this star any star all stars like this galaxy. Any galaxy.  All galaxies.  Like any supercluster, galaxy, star, planet, plutino, centaur, asteroid, moon, comet, or meteorite, this Earth is the exact and precisely divine center. 

Imagine Peace On Earth

What is the purpose of our existence?  It is a question we've asked of ourselves for as long as we've gained a conscience.  First let's consider, would we ask this question if we were living in peace and harmony in what would effectively be paradise?  I think not.  If there were no such things as war, poverty, hunger, disease, crime or even the notion of sin, I doubt we would question our existence.  We would be too occupied enjoying the blessing of a pleasurable existence in a world that might be considered tantamount to the Garden of Eden.  

We know all too well today that our present reality is different.  The continued conflicts of international wars as well as the plight of refugees and the scarcity of food in various areas around the world, not to mention the heavy toll that crime has taken across the majority of Earth, in all its unspeakable forms be they robbery, murder, rape, arson, drug trafficking as well as human slavery, etc, are enough to prompt anyone to ask, what is the purpose of our existence here?  

I dare you to follow my train of thought here, in order to attempt getting at the bottom of what is obviously our plight on this battle-scarred planet, caught up in an ongoing history that is rife with all manners of atrocity almost too painful to think about.   It's a small wonder many turn to religion in order to seek comfort or penance.  Yet I have managed to follow a logical train of thought which leads irrevocably towards pointing out the nature of one possible solution to what may be glimpsed from afar as a cauldron of seething madness and cruelty beyond our desire or even ability to contemplate.   

The first step along my flowchart of logical deduction, is ascertaining the notion that if we were to achieve actual peace on earth, then we most likely would be so content as to never bother asking the question of what our purpose in life might be.  Therefore, it follows naturally, that the answer to that question here in the real world must perforce be: "To establish peace on earth with interdependent harmony among all living creatures and the environment."   There can be no other answer when you consider the extreme ongoing pain and horror which a great portion of humanity's populace must suffer continuously, akin to raging patches of wildfire ravaging portions of our world.  

What to do about it?  Consider the established fact that our planet is shimmering with its own electromagnetic field, itself in harmony with that of our Sun, and extending across the vast web of our solar system.   Then consider the fact that every individual human being on Earth also has their own bodily electromagnetic field, what has been referred to as Chi, the energy force or life-force of our bodies.  It doesn't necessarily take a genius to realize our own bodies' energy-force intermingles with that of the planet itself.  

Taking a step back from our pale blue dot (as Carl Sagan famously alluded to our planet) in order to observe it from a detached distance, we may infer that something has gone terribly wrong for hundreds of generations at least, when you consider the ongoing violent state of things here.  With a growing population of eight billion individual human beings--each with our own electromagnetic energy fields--the idea occurred to me how intractable the problem of sin and war appears on the surface.   

Yet I suspect the solution to achieving world peace is a realistic one.  Not only that, I also believe that it may be achieved in a relatively short time span, possibly within one calendar year; possibly overnight.  Because I think we can all agree that every individual human being on earth wants to live in peace; even the most hardened warriors and terrorists deep inside must harbor a hope (however secret or lost it may seem even to themselves) that they could live out pleasant lives in harmony with their children, neighbors, and wives.  

This is when I concluded that there must be a dis-convergence going on, one that has perpetuated itself since as long as any of us alive today can remember.   It goes back even further than that, backwards in time deep into history, where one of two possibilities comes to mind:  One, that we homo sapiens sapiens just happen to be savage brutes with an almost insatiable capacity for sin and violence to the point many have concluded it appears to be simply in our very nature; and two, perhaps there was a time when peace and harmony was established, then something went awry and we gradually got off that track until now we are immersed in an ongoing history of brutality the likes of which most insulated normal people could not even imagine.  

Focusing our attentions on just my own country of the United States of America, we can easily surmise the divide that is going on between the two rival political factions, the Republicans and the Democrats.   Otherwise known respectively as the right-wing conservatives and the left-wing liberals.  Why are these two camps so perpetually at odds with each other?  First I must ask you to contemplate the following established fact.  That all life, regardless of whether it be flora or fauna, bacteria or otherwise, all life on earth shares 99% the same DNA, meaning that effectively all life as we know it on this planet including human beings comprise one singular entity.  

Once this indisputable truth is realized, it then becomes a matter of logical deduction to understand that the ongoing struggle amid humanity can be broken down to two halves of the whole pitted against one another.  Given enough time to contemplate the matter, and focusing in on the divide going on in the USA as the perfect example, it isn't difficult to see that the singularity may be at war with itself.  

Notice the two hemispheres of our individual brains.  Left and Right.  Assimilate all known religious teachings (as Joseph Campbell has done) and we may conclude that this "divide" being experienced here in America is the same battle being waged across the Earth, with any and/or all people, regardless of nationality, race, or creed.  The One has been divided and the two halves are clashing.  

Once again, the question arises:  what to do about it, if anything?  Here is where it gets quite slippery.  For one, the pragmatist or "realist", often under the guise of considering themselves atheists, might rationalize that it is not merely in our nature to be thus divided, but furthermore that is may be the ultimate nature of "reality."   The main problem with this approach, is it denies the possibility of changing our reality.  

I have always been the sort who "sits on the fence," in other words, I'm the guy caught in the middle, refusing to pledge my allegiance to either the right or the left, to the religious nor the atheist. That qualifies me as a suitable mediator in many instances.  This very essay is written in that spirit.  Because deep inside, I know that we are all one--atheists and religious people, left and right, black and white, fighters and lovers, the rich and the poor--I believe wholeheartedly that all the people of earth share the same basic attributes, and want the same thing, in a nutshell: a chance to enjoy this one life we've been given.  We dream of prosperity and peace even if we appear to be hardened on the outside.   

So what to do about it?  The only answer I can come up with is to somehow undo the disconvergence.  That is a pretty vague and abstract answer, but I think it points in the right direction.  Undo the disconvergence, and you effectively pave the way for the convergence to recommence itself, perhaps back to its original pristine shape.  

I offer the following rationale for the current violent (and seemingly natural and endless) state of the world:  what was once whole and harmonious, has somehow split into opposing factions resulting in this unique state of affairs where the singularity has rendered a schizophrenic war with itself.    Because it is important to remember:  the way things actually are here on earth today, the ecological Whole is broken down into its various constituent parts; and those parts who may have otherwise formerly accepted the responsibility to become proper stewards for this world (ourselves, human beings) are now, in effect, caught up in the ongoing crossfire of the violent struggle between the two factions of the whole.  Really, it's a matter of somehow triggering whatever it takes to set things right; and not to merely "accept the fact that this is how things must necessarily be." 

I believe that sincerely.  The reason I do, is simply because it's possible.  Reconciliation.  But how?  That is the burning question which for now, I can only answer with the idea of undoing the disconvergence.  The first thing that comes to mind, is for each individual to set an example by ceasing and desisting with their violent or sinful ways.  But this seems quite problematic, as the chances that every human being on Earth involved in these harrowing conflicts putting down their machine guns and machetes and heroin needles and stolen money or even their nefarious corporate practices which invariably destroy the environment upon which we all depend on to live, seems quite unlikely.   This unfathomably complex situation has gained its own momentum, having long ago crossed over into a new paradigm, the one we exist in today which our own ancestors handed over to us.  

I certainly don't have the answer to the question, how do we establish peace and prosperity on Earth?  Apparently nobody does.  Yet I came upon a remarkable idea for a possible solution.  The word religion comes from the Latin "religare," to "tie together."  If I were to take the opposite of that, in other words find the Latin phrasing for "pulling apart," it would be something like "carpo diversa", and continuing with the analogy, if religare is to religion, then "carpo diversa" must be to _______.  Allow me to suggest something akin to "carpodiversion," or maybe even carpe diem, which means "seize the day."  

What I'm getting at here, is the idea that religion itself may very well be that "tree of knowledge" which various scriptures have warned against partaking of.  In order for this essay to be understood by anyone who reads it--be they religious or atheist, leftwing or rightwing, conservative or liberal--it is necessary to suspend one's disbelief and give me the benefit of the doubt.  Because the very nature of the dilemma explicitly involves the aforementioned split categories of people--whom we've already determined belong to the same order of life, and whom I think we can all agree want nothing more than peace and prosperity in our lives.  

It is vital that both fundamentalists as well as atheists set aside their differences temporarily enough for my message to get across to each one respectively.   That is because regardless of how profoundly different each may think the other is wired, and furthermore regardless of whether or not anyone believes pragmatically or otherwise that the divide is the fundamental principal of reality itself, I must remind everyone that in actuality, the nature of our existence is still a complete mystery.   

Before I proceed with my idea of "carpodiversion" or seizing the day, allow me to touch on one thing.  It is quite evident that many well-meaning people before me have thought hard along these lines and concluded that what was needed was another spiritual belief system, which, in short, and by now, has pretty obviously resulted in nothing but more cults which invariably feed in to the ongoing struggle of the Whole at war with Itself.   We must necessarily cross that option off the list, as it only feeds more fuel to the raging fire.  

What's wrong with religion is not the idea behind it per se, but its invariable institutionalization, which takes root (therefore the analogy with "the tree of knowledge") and when we "eat from it," renders a dynamic which soon becomes technical and invariably leads towards opposition with other institutionalized religions.  If you follow the conclusions of Joseph Campbell, you will see for yourself how all religions in history fundamentally tell the same story.  Studying this dynamic should reveal clues as to what we might be able to do about shattering the current paradigm of suffering and violence the world over. 

Rather than create yet another institutionalized religion, I propose the introduction of the antithesis to what might be referred to as "religion's cancer;" i.e, not that religion itself is necessarily the culprit--but that it has become infected with a sickness which may be cured. I propose "Carpidiom" in lieu of "Religion."  And what is Carpidiom?  It is merely the untying of the knot which figuratively infected spirituality itself.   In order to wrap our minds around this idea, it is necessary for each of us (atheists and religious folk alike) to acknowledge the inherent mystery of our existence in the first place.  

We are now staring at the very crux where science and religion meet.  Carpidiom (for lack of a better term) is the letting go of institutionalized religion, as well as institutionalized atheism.  Carpidiom is that state of mind which most optimally allows one to harmonize with the total spirit of this living planet.   We must also acknowledge that "God" is just a word; and that word means different things to different people in an analogous manner to how different cultures have foreign terms for what they perceive to be the Creator.  Let's just put aside our differences long enough to agree that the word "God" may best be approached with the understanding that it is a placeholder for that which we simply do not (and perhaps cannot) know.  

That stated, the idea of Carpidiom (as opposed to Religion) would be to revert to what most likely was the original intention of efficacious spiritual belief, and that is the idea which states "each individual human being possesses their own personal relationship with that great spirit which we may know precious little about and therefore must approach by faith alone.  The idea behind Carpidiom is to literally bring atheists and religious people together.  It is about letting go of the beliefs which have blinded us and assuming responsibility for our own devotion to the whole of our creation.    

We must seize the day and allow for the divide between us to simply evaporate.  Set aside the technicality of our differences so that we may reach out to each other as fellow siblings of one race, one planet, no borders, no hell or heaven after we die, and instead achieve what we want most of all, paradise right here on Earth because it is actually within reach.  

I don't know how we as a species might achieve this without attempting to communicate these ideas.  Fear and doubt have devoured our lives to the point they have backed us into our respective corners.  Yet where there are humans, there is hope.  Positive energy and love are powerful tools by which misunderstandings and enmity might be chipped away at until they disappear altogether.  Are we perpetually warring with one another merely because that is the business of our parent's generations handed down to us?  If so, why are we compelled to continue carrying the flaming torch of death and destruction?  Could it be a simple matter of our youth rising up one day and stating "Enough!"?  From where we all sit, this seems unlikely due to the very momentum of this continuing struggle.  

I propose that we each contemplate seriously the matter of our individual bodies' electromagnetism, as well as that of the Earth.  If religious people cast away the shackles of their institutionalization, and furthermore if atheists accept that even science does not have the answer as to how creation came into being, then we might all stand a chance of recognizing the fact that we really are all brothers and sisters here together on this one world which may seem vast to each one of us, suspended in space, stretching as it does around the bend of every horizon, but which as Carl Sagan pointed out, may also be seen as the most infinitesimally minuscule pale blue dot in a staggering universe so tremendous as to defy our ability to process it all.   

As I mentioned already in this essay, the last thing we need is yet another religious cult to become institutionalized and take root so that future generations may once again start warring over their perceived differences.  That is exactly why I came up with the new term Carpidiom; just another place-holder for the idea that there actually does exist the potential for us to rise above our vicious cycle of violence, and for once during the long uninterrupted history of wars and man's inhumanity to man, reach out to one another across our divide and accept our differences so that we might allow a new respect to grow between us.  

How I Would Change The World

   How would I change the world for the better? That's a fine question presenting an almost intangible challenge. Should I dream hard and be idealistic—or try to be realistic? Considering the seriousness of the endeavor the question posits, I'd lean toward realism, myself. Most of us are aware of the old adage, which I've taken the liberty to polish to "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, and you can lead a man to knowledge but you can't make him think." This begs the question, how to first lead others to necessary information while at the same time make them thirsty for it? We all know how often communication tends to go in one ear and out the other. People are going to think what they think, and do what they do, regardless of how cannily they might be informed of crucial matters concerning the harmony and survival of our species.  

   Ever since I was a teenager, I've been interested in both environmentalism and humanitarianism. Are we as a species co-existing with each other and the ecology of earth in a sustainable manner? Taking a look at humanity amid the history of wars in our culture, it seems apparent the answer is no; at least not without the painful price of eliminating each other in conflicts over the centuries. As for how we're affecting the ecology, both global warming and the various methods by which we have poisoned the oceans and skies and water supplies seems to indicate the answer to be "negatively" in that regard. It doesn't appear as if we're prioritizing our self-sustainability at all. From where I sit as a 49 year old new father of a bright and promising sixteen month old child, it should be a concern for me what sort of world my son will inherit.  

   It is already understood by many of us that all the life on earth, every last plant, bacteria, fungi, insect, reptile, bird, fish, mammal and all humans on the planet comprise what appears to be one single vast interdependent organism. Each varied form of life shares 99% identical DNA, or so we're led to believe—only differentiating from each other by the slightest margin in that respect (despite appearing as a dizzying array of different manifestations). All components of this family tree seem to be subject to the process of life which inevitably leads toward death. In fact, expiration appears to be the shared destiny of every life form on the planet. One reason our view of life gets so limited is because through our subjective perceptions we separate ourselves from the entire organism. If we instead acknowledge that the tapestry of life on earth continues to survive despite the inevitable demise of a certain percentage of its various species, we might accept that there exists a sort of immortality considering the whole of the human race—and indeed the entirety of this living ecology—continuing to survive for untold generations.  

   My point is that we all suffer and enjoy the isolated and subjective experience of being alive in this continuum of space and time. Scientific research has revealed over the past century alone the existence of our universe so gigantic and complex as to defy mortal comprehension.  It is a blessing to live out our lives without fear and just enjoy this existence which has been granted to each and every one of us despite our mutual misapprehension of how on earth we were created in the first place or what may be in store for us over the long term. Why should we worry about these questions as a species when it is apparent that we have survived after having gone forth and multiplied over the uncountable years of history?  

   My answer to "how would I change the world for the better?" is to continue focusing on playing my small part and just being myself. Considering death seems to be a natural part of the cycle of all existence, I must conclude that to most effectively change the world for the better, I must first and foremost appreciate the bigger picture.  I will keep on loving my wife, helping to raise our child to the best of my ability. I will do my best to love my family and friends, and respect our neighbors. I will continue working my full time job to remain a contributing member of society. The reason I believe this is the best answer, is because I think if we were all to play our parts and follow our hearts to the best of our abilities, the sum result would better influence the world to carry on doing what it has been doing, which is managing to survive as a shelter to harbor life for untold eons. As for dreaming, I can only have a little more faith that others throughout the world could feel as I do and allow the fear to dissolve from their minds and openly accept each other for the extended family we happen to be.