The Place Beyond the Tightest Hold

Christmas Eve 2025

On this quiet evening before Christmas Day (save the issue of weather warning of up to 60MPH winds here in the PNW today), may the pause between the year gone by and the year to come be filled with peace, clarity, and genuine reflection. We need that. We've earned that. We demand that.

Whether you celebrate this season as a time of spiritual meaning, human connection, or simple gratitude, here’s wishing you warmth, insight, and moments that renew the spirit. 

Merry Christmas Eve and may the coming day bring light into every corner of your life. 

On to the matter at hand...

I was recently considering why the concept of God appears so consistently throughout human history. I do not personally believe in a deity. The universe, as far as we can tell, appears to operate through cause and effect. The most common theistic arguments, the Big Bang, origins of the universe or humankind, and the idea of “something from nothing,” therefore demands the answer of requiring a "God", feel disingenuous to me. Too easy. It reminds me of our evolving from pre-history into explanations of our existence and experiences, especially unexplained experiences, as somehow, divinely evoked. 

Not knowing how something began does not logically require a supernatural explanation. That impulse, we cannot explain this therefore religion, is arguably how humanity ended up confused in the first place.

From an evolutionary standpoint, religion appears less as revealed truth and more as an early framework for managing the unknown, a provisional system that filled explanatory gaps until better tools emerged. When any institution positions itself as the exclusive authority on the nature of existence, that authority tends to consolidate. Over time, explanation becomes dogma, knowledge concentrates in the hands of a few, and power follows. Where power accumulates, the potential for abuse inevitably arises.

But recently, I saw something different.

Is what we call “God” primarily an attachment anchor, an explanation engine, or something else entirely? And if it is the function that matters rather than the entity itself, does the role traditionally filled by God persist even when belief in a deity is no longer necessary?

Art by Marvin Hayes

As scientific understanding expanded, religion became less necessary as an explanatory framework. Psychology also evolved out of philosophy, and science (I've explored this in depth, elsewhere). By the nineteenth century, this shift was already being articulated in cultural and philosophical terms, most famously in the claim that “God is dead,” not as a declaration of disbelief, but as an acknowledgment that traditional religious authority was losing its central role in explaining the world.

My shift, my small epiphany, came while watching Part II of Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison: Living in the Material World. Eric Clapton recounts wanting to date Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. What struck him was Harrison’s reaction...or lack of one. 

George was deeply immersed in meditation and in actively reducing his dependence on the material world. According to Clapton, Harrison appeared almost cavalier about the situation, far less emotionally disturbed than expected.

Why? One could argue he just didn't love her, or wasn't really "attached" to her. But I think that misses the point here, entirely.

That moment reframed the entire question for me.

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God as a place to put attachment

Perhaps the core function of belief in God is not explanation at all, or "individual" (entity, "God"), but attachment management.

Instead of God being the ultimate answer to cosmic questions, God may function as a stable external anchor for emotional investment. A place to direct one’s primary attachment so that material things...possessions, status, even romantic partners...do not become the sole foundation of meaning.

If your spouse leaves you.
If your loved one dies.
If your world collapses.

Then the loss, while still painful, is not total. Your existence does not implode, because your emotional hierarchy does not rest entirely on fragile, impermanent things.

Seen this way, agape love of God is not about obedience or submission. It is about distributing emotional dependency upward, away from objects that inevitably fail us.

George Harrison was not indifferent. He was practicing non-attachment as psychological insulation.

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Religion as an early emotional technology

Decades ago, psychological research explored something similar. In some experiments, belief in God was replaced with belief in an arbitrary object...a rock, a symbol, a ritual. The results were consistent: belief in an external agency improved resilience, persistence, and stress tolerance, regardless of whether the agent was real.

This suggests something important.

It is not God, per se, that produces these effects.
It is attention directed toward an external stabilizing reference point.

Religion, historically, bundled this function into a shared cultural system:

• a permanent presence

• a benevolent or coherent narrative

• communal reinforcement

• ritualized reminders

Science (while also, though not enough, psychology) eventually replaced religion as an explanatory framework for the physical world. But it did not replace religion’s role as an emotional regulator.

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Attachment theory, scaled up

From the perspective of attachment theory, humans require a primary attachment figure to regulate fear, loss, and uncertainty. When that figure is another human, the bond is powerful but dangerously unstable.

Religion offers a workaround.

By relocating primary attachment to something imagined as eternal, benevolent, and always present, emotional volatility decreases. The system becomes less brittle.

This does not require belief in the supernatural. It only requires perceived continuity and meaning beyond the self.

That may explain why:

• belief persists even when explanations fail

• rituals matter even when doctrines are doubted

• people replace religion with ideology, nationalism, art, or identity when faith disappears

The nervous system does not care what the anchor is.

It only cares that one exists.

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Is it God, or is it function?

This reframing does not suddenly make religion true in a metaphysical sense. But it does make it understandable, even inevitable.

Religion did not arise because humans were stupid.
It arose because unbuffered consciousness is psychologically brutal.

• Mortality awareness.
• Loss.
• Chaos.
• Lack of control.

Belief systems evolved as tools to soften those edges.

The danger, historically, has not been belief itself, but when the attachment object becomes coercive, absolute, or weaponized.

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A different way of seeing belief

This is not an argument for God, nor a retreat from skepticism.

It is an acknowledgment that religion may have survived not because it explains the universe, but because it helps humans survive it.

And perhaps the real question is not whether God exists, but whether humans can function long-term without some form of stable external reference point...religious or otherwise.

Seen this way, belief is less about truth claims and more about where we place our deepest emotional weight.

That insight alone changes how I understand religion, even without believing in it.

When the majority of our attachment is invested in material things, status, or even other people, loss and threat can distort behavior. Fear of losing what we cling to most has always been capable of driving humans toward cruelty, violence, and self-destruction. 

By contrast, systems that redirect primary attachment away from the material world reduce the pressure to defend, possess, or control at all costs.

If that stabilizing function can be achieved without supernatural belief, then we are not bound to religious frameworks themselves, only to the human need they once served. Alternatives exist that involve less social coercion, fewer complications, and a clearer relationship to reality.

Had such an orientation been more widely adopted long ago, it might have spared humanity an incalculable amount of suffering, cruelty, and unnecessary harm. Things we are still experiencing today.

That possibility alone is worth considering.

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

Author Signing - Port Orchard, Washington, Olympic Peninsula - Halloween - October 31, 2025

Happy Halloween!

Have a fun, safe and sane holiday!

Today, I have an author event in Port Orchard, Washington. This is the next town over from me here in Bremerton. I prepared something to say…but as it turned out, it's going to be just an author signing. Still, I wasn't sure at first, so I prepared something to say just in case I was asked to...

Deity, Dogma, and Misperception in Death of Heaven

2024 New York City Big Book Award Winner for Horror

Cover art by Marvin Hayes

When I wrote *Death of Heaven* in 2012, my intention — other than simply to entertain — was to explore how we as human beings misunderstand reality. This is something that goes back to my university degree in psychology, concentrating in phenomenology.

How, when we encounter something beyond our understanding, we invent stories about it. We build beliefs, and from those beliefs we construct entire systems — religions, moral codes, even ideas of good and evil — all to make sense of what we’ve seen or felt, even when we don’t truly understand it.

To very poorly paraphrase what someone once said:

“Given enough time, humans will turn almost anything into a religion.”

Thus, Longevity + Repetition = Institutionalization, or Religion.

In 1769 Voltaire said:

“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”

Hanif Abdurraqib (said more recently):

“With enough repetition, anything can become a religion.”

Terry Pratchett, in Small Gods more or less said:

“If enough people believe, you can be god of anything,” i.e., belief over time/in numbers begets religion.

Eric Hoffer, American moral and social philosopher best known for his book The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements published in 1951, is often cited when discussing how long-lived movements harden into institutions:

“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

Finally, the great Doug Adams of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame:

“I am fascinated by religion. (That’s a completely different thing from believing in it!) … What is it? What does it represent? Why have we invented it? How does it keep going? What will become of it?”

He also said:

“Religion doesn’t seem to work like that; it has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy or whatever … really what it means is ‘Here is an idea or notion that you’re not allowed to say anything bad about; you’re just not.’ Why not? Because you’re not!”

For millennia, we humans believed the heavens revolved around us. That misperception wasn’t just an error — it became the organizing myth of civilization. From it grew:

-astronomy and mathematics (as early cultures tried to predict divine “movements” of the stars),

-architecture and art (temples and cathedrals aligned with celestial bodies),

-philosophy and theology (Aristotle, Ptolemy, Aquinas), and

-a moral worldview placing humanity at the center of creation.

Leaving that belief was painful. We murdered people over questioning it.

Every time humanity sheds an old illusion, it feels like dying a little. We fought to keep the Earth at the center of the universe; we silenced people for saying otherwise. But the truth didn’t care. It just waited. And that’s the same struggle my characters face in Death of Heaven — when reality refuses to match belief, but rather than belief fighting back...reality wins. And it’s horrifying.

This book wasn’t about denying religion, it wasn’t an attempt to destroy religion, rather it simply tries to point out just how often we misperceive reality.

That’s what *Death of Heaven* is really about. It’s horror, yes — to be sure, it’s adult horror, but not just in the sense of monsters or the supernatural.

It’s about the horror of realizing how fragile our understanding of existence might be... while reality is attacking us and allowing us no time to assimilate the new paradigm of reality.

The story follows people who experience things far beyond what they or anyone, can comprehend, and rather than accept the unknown, they interpret it through the only framework they have through their lived experiences: belief.

They assign meaning. They have to. And so they create gods out of confusion and terror, as humans have always done.

To me, that’s what’s fascinating — and frightening. We think of dogma as something ancient or religious, but it’s actually a very human reflex. We do it constantly, even today: we fill in the blanks when reality doesn’t make sense.

Both to our benefit and detriment.

The universe, in its enormity, doesn’t explain itself — and that silence is intolerable to us. We are pattern recognizers and so we assign the most obvious pattern to what we do not understand.

So we name it. We worship it. We fear it. We give it purpose, even when that purpose may never have existed.

In *Death of Heaven*, that instinct to explain — to create meaning — becomes both the source of our strength and the root of our tragedy. Because if our gods and our certainties are born from misunderstanding, then what happens when the truth finally arrives and refuses to fit those stories? What happens when heaven dies — not in the sky, but inside us, in the collapse of our own convictions?

So while I wrote it as a piece of speculative horror, it’s really an exploration of perception. Of how much of our reality is shaped by the stories we tell ourselves to survive. And maybe, just maybe, what we call divinity — or evil — isn’t divine or evil at all, but simply the way the universe looks when we see it through human eyes.

But what might happen in the sequel to the book? Once the entire world cannot deny that reality is not what we believed? Many will continue on. Some will not be able to and perhaps mass suicides will ensue. But many will not be able to deny what they had just lived through and will have to reinvent their perceived universe.

That’s the world I wanted to explore — not to deny belief, but to question how belief begins.

How much of what we hold sacred comes from something real, and how much from our own inability to accept what’s truly unknown? For me, that’s where both the horror and the wonder live — in that fragile space between what we think we know and what reality might actually be.

So, we can talk about that. You don’t need to have read the book — I’m more interested in people’s thoughts.

What do *you* think heaven is — or perhaps more appropriately...what happens when we realize it isn’t what we thought, and never was?

So there it is…Have a great and safe Halloween!

One more comment...

Happy Halloween, Creatures of the Night! 🩸

The veil’s thin, the moon’s high, and somewhere a chainsaw just revved for its final time.

Tonight isn’t about candy...It’s about carnage, creativity, and the macabre stories that keep our hearts pounding long after the lights go out.

Not just the terror of anticipation, or the horror of the moment—
but the lingering echo of tales gone dark and disturbing.

The kind that crawl back into your mind when the night’s gone quiet.

The kind that makes you check the lock… twice. 🔪

Whether you’re covered in fake blood or hiding behind your screen watching your favorite final fight back, remember: horror isn’t just a genre but a lifestyle. When you hear that click in the distant dark while reading, while watching...it's not real, remember, it's not real... just keep reading, just keep watching.

Stay twisted, my friends, stay safe...but if you hear that knock after midnight…

Well... maybe just don’t answer. 👀

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!

"What we think, we become," Buddha - Now, About American Politics

The Cycle of Demonization: Perspectives on Self-Destruction and Identity

Buddha's insight, "What we think, we become," serves as a powerful lens through which to explore the corrosive cycle of demonization in contemporary political disourse.

When one group, such as the political right, engages in a campaign of inaccurate, inarticulate, and inexpert critique of the left—resorting to tactics like childish name-calling, a hallmark of their leader Donald Trump's branding—it often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

America is actively experiencing a cultural and ethical conflict, where progressives/ liberals push forward into new cultural frontiers, championing innovation, inclusivity, and social transformation, perhaps without enough consideration for slower-to-change citizens.

Brief aside, Andy Borowitz, You are not alone: "...a welcome reminder that half the country did the right thing this election."

While, conservatives, like MaGA-GOP, demand the maintenance of traditional, often outmoded values, justifying leadership who prioritize perceived stability & ideological alignment while utterly ignoring broader societal progress.

This ongoing struggle shapes the nation's political, social, and cultural landscapes, revealing stark (and dark) differences in approaches to leadership, ethics, and cultural growth.

Regardless of one's orientation, the quality of leaders must be of primary concern.

This is being utterly ignored in the Trump MaGA-GOP faction, aligning more with America's enemies than our friends.

By channeling their energy into exaggeration and mischaracterization, they risk transforming into the very traits they falsely ascribe to their adversaries.

The Cycle of Demonization

When demonization becomes the primary mode of engagement, it fosters disrespect and dehumanization. Instead of critiquing ideas with precision and integrity, the act of mislabeling opponents—accusing them of hypocrisy, authoritarianism, or hatred—often reveals a failure to engage honestly. In time, this behavior cultivates in the accusers a mirror image of what they falsely attribute to others. Their rhetoric shifts from being a tool for communication to one for distortion, and they become entangled in the negativity they sow.

The Paradox of Projection

Psychology offers insight into this phenomenon through the concept of projection. Often, the traits we most vehemently criticize in others are ones we subconsciously recognize in ourselves. A political movement that attacks the left for being "tyrannical" or "intolerant" while engaging in censorship or dismissiveness may, in fact, highlight its own insecurities or unacknowledged flaws.

Disrespect as Transformation

Disrespect is a defining feature of this dynamic. When opponents are not treated as worthy of nuanced consideration, it degrades not only the dialogue but the moral compass of the critic. Disrespectful engagement—rooted in contempt and caricature—erodes empathy and narrows the scope of understanding. As a result, the critic loses sight of shared humanity and becomes ensnared in the ugliness of their own making.

Becoming the Ugliness

To demonize inaccurately is to distort reality, and to do so inarticulately is to abandon the tools of thoughtful reasoning. This process has a corrosive effect on character and discourse alike. Over time, those who wield disrespect as a weapon cannot help but absorb its poison. They descend into the very ugliness they once claimed to combat, illustrating the Buddha’s timeless wisdom.

The Path Forward

The antidote lies in re-centering dialogue on respect and truth. Instead of demonization, engage with compassion. Instead of mischaracterization, strive for understanding. By doing so, we not only preserve the integrity of our own character but also foster a healthier, more constructive political environment. In this way, we avoid becoming the monsters we fear and instead embody the ideals we wish to see in the world.

Psychology

From a psychological perspective, this behavior can be understood through several key concepts, including projection, groupthink, confirmation bias, and the scapegoat mechanism. Each sheds light on the underlying motivations and consequences of such behavior:

1. Projection

Projection is a defense mechanism first identified by Sigmund Freud, where individuals attribute their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or traits to others. In this case, those engaging in name-calling or demonization might unconsciously recognize similar flaws or behaviors in themselves but displace those onto their opponents. For example, accusing the left of being authoritarian while advocating for restrictive policies may reflect an unacknowledged internal conflict or insecurity.

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2. Groupthink and Tribalism

This behavior often thrives in environments of groupthink, where a desire for conformity within a group suppresses critical thinking and promotes the vilification of "outsiders." The phenomenon of tribalism—an intense loyalty to one's own group—amplifies this dynamic. In such contexts, attacks on opponents become a way of strengthening group identity, even if those attacks are irrational or unfounded. This creates a reinforcing loop where criticism is not about truth but about signaling loyalty to the group.

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3. Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias drives individuals to seek out and accept information that supports their existing beliefs while rejecting information that contradicts them. Those engaging in demonization are often unwilling to engage with nuanced or opposing viewpoints, preferring oversimplified, exaggerated narratives that confirm their worldview. This selective thinking leads to further entrenchment and a distorted perception of their opponents.

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4. The Scapegoat Mechanism

René Girard’s theory of the scapegoat mechanism posits that societies and groups often channel collective anxieties or conflicts onto a scapegoat to maintain internal cohesion. In political contexts, demonizing "the other side" becomes a way to offload responsibility for societal issues. This not only deflects attention from internal shortcomings but also unites the group through shared opposition to an external "enemy."

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5. Cognitive Dissonance

When individuals hold conflicting beliefs or behaviors, they experience psychological discomfort known as cognitive dissonance. Demonizing others can be a way to resolve this tension by externalizing the conflict. For instance, if someone advocates for "freedom" while supporting restrictive policies, they might demonize their opponents as "tyrannical" to reconcile the inconsistency in their own stance.

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6. Erosion of Empathy

This behavior often signals a decline in empathy, as demonization involves dehumanizing the opponent. Psychologists recognize that dehumanization is a precursor to justifying harmful behavior against others, as it allows individuals to view their opponents not as people but as caricatures or symbols of perceived threat.

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Consequences

• Identity Shaping: As people project their flaws onto others and reinforce their narratives within echo chambers, they increasingly embody the traits they attribute to their opponents.
• Polarization: Demonization entrenches divisions, making constructive dialogue and compromise nearly impossible.
• Loss of Integrity: Focusing on false narratives and exaggerations undermines the moral and intellectual credibility of those engaging in such tactics.

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Remedies

Psychology suggests remedies like encouraging empathy, cultivating self-awareness, and promoting critical thinking to break these cycles. Engaging in dialogue, acknowledging shared humanity, and striving for accurate critiques can help counter the destructive effects of demonization.

Phenomenology

The phenomenological perspective examines the subjective, lived experience of individuals engaging in or affected by this behavior. It focuses on how such actions are experienced and understood from within the consciousness of those involved, rather than analyzing them as external phenomena. Here’s how this perspective applies:

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1. The Experience of Demonization

From the perspective of individuals engaging in demonization, their actions may be rooted in their felt sense of being right or righteous. They may experience their critiques not as distortions but as expressions of deeply held truths. This phenomenological reality is shaped by:

• Pre-reflective biases: The ways in which cultural, social, and ideological backgrounds shape their perceptions before conscious reflection.
• Sense of identity: Demonizing "the other" becomes a way to solidify one's sense of self or group belonging.

For those on the receiving end of demonization, the experience may be one of alienation and dehumanization, where they feel unseen as complex individuals and reduced to stereotypes. This can create a felt sense of frustration, anger, or even despair.

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2. The Role of Embodiment

Phenomenology emphasizes the role of embodiment in lived experience. For instance, engaging in demonization might involve visceral sensations—tension, anger, or exhilaration—experienced as bodily reinforcement of one's beliefs. Similarly, those demonized might experience physical manifestations of distress, such as a tight chest, racing thoughts, or an inability to focus, underscoring the embodied nature of these interactions.

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3. Intersubjectivity and the Breakdown of Shared Meaning

Phenomenology highlights the importance of intersubjectivity—the shared understanding that arises in human interactions. Demonization disrupts this process by reducing others to fixed categories, denying them the opportunity to be encountered as full, dynamic subjects. Instead of dialogue, there is monologue: one-sided declarations that fail to respect or truly acknowledge the other.

This results in a loss of shared meaning, where individuals or groups can no longer agree on basic realities. Each side perceives the other not just as wrong but as incomprehensibly alien, intensifying division.

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4. The Intentionality of Consciousness

Phenomenology views consciousness as inherently intentional—it is always directed toward something. When individuals focus their attention on demonizing others, their consciousness becomes structured around hostility, exaggeration, and distortion. This intentionality shapes their worldview, reinforcing negative perceptions and making it difficult to entertain alternative perspectives.

For the demonized, their consciousness may become preoccupied with defending themselves or grappling with feelings of being unfairly judged, pulling them into the same toxic dynamic.

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5. The Temporal Dimension

Phenomenology considers how experiences are situated in time. Demonization is not an isolated act but part of a broader temporal arc. The person engaging in it may draw on past grievances and project fears into the future, shaping their experience of the present. For the target, the demonization might feel like a continuity of historical patterns, such as marginalization or stereotyping, compounding its emotional weight.

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6. The Existential Implications

Phenomenologically, demonization touches on deeper existential concerns:

• Authenticity: Demonization can be seen as an inauthentic mode of being, where individuals avoid confronting their own flaws or uncertainties by externalizing them.
• Freedom: Both parties experience a loss of existential freedom—those demonizing are trapped in rigid perceptions, while the demonized are constrained by imposed identities.
• Meaning: Demonization threatens the creation of shared meaning, leading to existential disconnection and fragmentation.

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The Phenomenological Insight

Phenomenology reveals that demonization is not just a political or psychological phenomenon but a distortion of how individuals and groups relate to one another as conscious beings. By failing to see others as full, lived subjects, demonization reduces both the "other" and the self to narrower, less authentic ways of being. This perspective invites a return to openness, empathy, and an acknowledgment of the shared, complex nature of human existence.

The cycle of demonization, explored through political, psychological, and phenomenological lenses, reveals how the act of inaccurately labeling and dehumanizing others can ultimately distort one's own identity. By focusing on exaggeration, mischaracterization, and projection, individuals and groups risk becoming the very traits they accuse others of embodying.

When a leader like Donald Trump uses such divisive and uncaring tactics to manipulate and control his own citizens—leveraging misinformation to grift money, seize power, and perpetuate destruction without regard for the suffering he causes—it becomes imperative for the nation to reflect on the gravity of his actions. His blatant disregard for the well-being of those he abuses, both within his follower base and beyond, speaks to a deeper crisis of empathy and moral leadership. 

Those who support such a figure must confront the harm they are complicit in, recognizing that the future of the country depends on unity, compassion, and the rejection of divisive, self-serving figures. It is critical that we strive to rebuild a nation centered on collective welfare and work tirelessly to ensure that such individuals never hold public office again, safeguarding democracy and humanity for generations to come.

This destructive cycle erodes empathy, deepens divisions, and undermines authentic dialogue, leaving both the demonizers and the demonized trapped in a feedback loop of self-destruction and alienation. The remedy lies in re-centering respect, self-awareness, and shared human understanding.

We need to understand respect for the fact that you're an American citizen. Disagree, debate (something lost lately for bickering and shouting one another down...yes, some very dumb being espoused, esp, from the Right, but come on...).

We can do better. We must do better.

Cheers! Sláinte!

Compiled with the aid of ChatGPT

11 11, #23, The Porus Mind, Magic, Beliefs in Unreality

One of the truly awesome marvels in life is that things out of the ordinary do happen. Way more than you think. Especially if your life is or appears to you, dark and ominous. Just open your eyes, marvels are everywhere. They happen all the time. To think they don't is to be delusional. Not the other way around.

And that, is a problem.

Patterns, occurrences, events, the porous mind, examples of the underlying formula in the universe that appear different from what you normally see day in and day out. Strange things happen all the time. Good and bad. Recognize them. Enjoy them as you can. Just do not run off like they have some vastly intense and significant meaning to you personally. They probably don't much of the time.

Don't just go off thinking there is some conspiracy, when all there is has to do with regular and random occurrences. In a vast network of processes and systems such as our life and the universe are, the fact that many of these things happen simply appear in a way, unique. When they actually happen less than one should expect.

It can be counter intuitive.

What may seem to happen all the time... to you, actually happens all the time everywhere, unseen. Yet, once you notice it it may seem to happen (even if only to you) all the time. When really, it does not. No I'm not crazy, the universe merely appears to be if you do not understand what is going on.

Once you notice them, they are everywhere. Like my last car I bought. Never noticed those before. Now I see they are everywhere. They are everywhere, and yet in reality, they aren't that big of a group compared to the  whole of all cars, or all vehicles, or all moving (even air and water and space) vehicles.

Numerology, phrenology, the occult, all fun stuff. Just, keep it in perspective. For your own good. But to be honest, mostly for ours.

"Robert Anton Wilson cites William S. Burroughs as the first person to believe in the "23 enigma."[1] Wilson, in an article in Fortean Times, related the following anecdote:

"I first heard of the 23 enigma from William S Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, Nova Express, etc. According to Burroughs, he had known a certain Captain Clark, around 1960 in Tangier, who once bragged that he had been sailing 23 years without an accident. That very day, Clark’s ship had an accident that killed him and everybody else aboard. Furthermore, while Burroughs was thinking about this crude example of the irony of the gods that evening, a bulletin on the radio announced the crash of an airliner in Florida, USA. The pilot was another Captain Clark and the flight was Flight 23."[2] - Wikipedia

On the other hand, several millennia ago, had you pulled out your Bic type lighter and flicked it at another person, aside from the possibility you could be killed on the spot. You'd be thought to have some kind of magical, or god like power. You'd be seen as a witch, a subject of Satan, or a demon.

When we all know it's just a conglomeration of plastic, flint, steel and gas put together in such a way to allow the spark of a flame to sustain itself.

To think there aren't such other things on that order in our current environment is simply not rational or reasonable. Though I would argue, science has made us very aware of these types of things and we may now have the ability, at very least, not to be so easily fooled or amazed.

Special effects in films, computer graphics, magicians and stage shows have added to that awareness. As well as conmen (criminal CONfidence abusers) through dissemination of police and media awareness efforts, the complaints of friends and perhaps but hopefully not, personal experience.

And therein, as with any good conspiracy theory, lay the rub. The ability to divine, to differentiate between fact and fiction, becomes for many, easily blurred. Some therefore may find themselves trapped in a belief they should never have entertained. And yet, there they are. Stuck, entranced, captured. And that opens them up for further abuse and misuse.

Conmen depend on that element of human nature. They depends on people's decency, or greed, or even our pattern recognition skills. Conspiracy theorists depend on this, too. Some may well be heartfelt and inadvertent in their actions, not even realizing themselves what they are doing. To themselves, to others, to their country at large when they have a platform to speak from.

Too many however, especially nowadays have discovered, as it has become obvious, that one can live an extravagant life if only one can dispense with ethics and morality. Something which too many today have done and they are prevalent on TV, radio, in print and online. Even our White House.

We see it from sites like InfoWars, from Rush Limbaugh, from other alternate fact (lies) people. It broaches over into more mainstream media like the problematic and too often disingenuous, Fox News. On a lower plane there is Breitbart and the Drudge Report (someone asked if it wasn't really the grudge report, but I digress).

Arguing over the clarity or alacrity, the veracity or truth of these sorry elements is not the point.

People abuse us merely because of how we work and react as human beings. We have been hacked and it is up to us, not just the government, police, or others, but us to educate ourselves and remain vigilant. For our own protection and for the protection of all others. Especially those who can so easily fall prey to these kinds of people and dynamics. Easily preyed upon and abused. And that can affect us all.

Still, aside from the negative aspects of humanity and the dynamics of hustling, it is still easy to find oneself immersed in strange, unuseful, unproductive, or even damaging beliefs. Partly because we observe, we notice things, and they stick with us.

Our naturally obsessive compulsive and pattern recognitive nature takes over and our pattern recognition skills kick in filling in what isn't there. Our imagination goes into overdrive. Our cognitive dissonance and so many other phrases and dynamics, syndromes and conditions can and many times do engage. We need to be aware, to stay abreast of these things, to watch out for others.

Because for some things like these, we all really do need one another's help. Together, we can get to a better and more stable life. First, we have to stop seeing one another as the enemy. For we have met him, and he's not always us.

Blue Was The Sky - or, Ballad of the Dissonant Mind

I was standing on the street. All alone. The streets were empty. For the moment anyway, traffic was non-existent.

A man came up to me and said.
"Sky, it's purple."

I looked up at the sky. It was the clearest blue I had ever seen. Not a cloud in the sky. I looked at the gentleman next to me, standing there staring between two buildings at a piece of the sky to the south.

There was a large solid glass faced building between those buildings, down the street. It gave the buildings a slight reddish hue to their dark tones. But the sky between them, that small tall rectangular piece of sky he was staring into, was blue as blue could be.

I said: "Uh. Sure." He looked at me, reading something in the tone of my voice.

"It is isn't it? A beautiful purple. Never seen that before like that. Don't you agree."

I was caught. I could lie to a perfect stranger, let it go, and maybe he'd go away. He smelled slightly of something, I couldn't put my finger on it. Musty. Confused smells of stored clothing and cardamom maybe. Cardamom left too long in a cupboard.

"Well, the sky is blue as I've ever seen." He gave me an odd look of disdain.  I felt a need to qualify my remark. "Those buildings, they have an odd color don't they? Kind of a purple color." He eyed me suspiciously. So I went on.

"Perhaps the sky and the buildings are playing tricks on your eyes?" I smiled at him, congenially. He reacted negatively to my comment, as if I'd called his being into question, as if I'd challenged his veracity, his sanity even.

"The sky is purple, I'm telling you. What we see is important, what we believe is more important. It speaks to who we are. I know. Yes. I know. You should know too."

What do you say to that? He was not happy, I could see beneath the surface, he was seething. I couldn't understand his passion, his adherence to his belief in a purple sky. I looked up. I looked up at the sky in such a way so as to invoke a desire in him to cast his gaze upward. But he continued looking straight ahead.

"That sky, is blue." I said this looking up above us, lifted my hand slightly to indicate the sky above.

"I've never seen a sky so purple," he said. He stared at the slice of sky framed by neo modern buildings and a super modern one beyond them, then looked over at me. As if daring me to disagree.

"Is there anything I can say to make you see that the sky is blue between those buildings?"

"Between the buildings? It's not purple just between the buildings." I looked up, back at him, between the buildings, up at the sky covering us, then back at him. He hadn't moved. I got the distinct feeling he may have had trauma to his neck, from the way he held himself. He wouldn't look up, or he couldn't look up. Something wasn't right.

"Purple huh?"

"Purple, no doubt about it."

"I always liked purple." He smiled.

"It's a good color. The color of sky."

I glanced over between the buildings. The sky appeared purple. A cold sweat broke quickly over my skin, and then just as suddenly disappeared as I glanced upward and saw a very blue sky. I looked back between the buildings and now the sky was again blue as it had been, as it was. I looked him full in the face.

He smiled, nodded and just, walked off. There was a bounce in his step. As if he was happy. Or had achieved something worthy of pleasure.

I looked back up and then forward. Perplexed.

The sky was still blue.

Up next on Monday, August 8th, 2016: "Donald J. Trump's Big Con".

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....