This is a little bit complecated compared to our current system, but it doesn't seem altogether impossible.
Every vote counts. If a democrat gets 40% of the votes, and a republican gets 60% of the votes, then each man is entitled to sit in office and determine what to do with the tax dollars that his voters pay to him.
If we look at the number of individual in office, whether it be national, provincial, municipal, and think that everyone who gets a vote deserves to be in office, then there's certainly too many people in government receiving a paycheque. Especially in Canada, we've got a few more parties to deal with. In this sense, maybe a polititian should be able to determine their own salary based on the tax dollars of those who voted for them. It'd be nice if salaries had to be declared and put into writing before election, so voters would know what their supposed leader is hoping to get out of the deal.
In the states, i'd say if the presedent wanted to go to war, then those of whom that didn't vote for him cannot be drafted, although they would still have the right to join the air forces if they wished.
I just like the idea that every individual is led by the person they want as a leader. It grew out of me while i was reading some Albert Einstein quotes.
I would love to have people point out flaws in my idea, so that it may react, and evolve into something possible.
It's hard to think that one emotion is better than another.
I heard about a man today. Saibaba. Lives in India. Sounds like a special guy.
update:
I just checked the internet to see what they had to say about this guy. There was a few websites I expected to see, with quotes and such from the man. And there was a few websites i didn't expect to see, labeling him as a sexual preditor, who's primary interest is young men.
Sorry, they didn't necessarily label him anything, they just asked the question, is he a prophet or a sexual menace?
It made me sad to read that sort of thing. It sucks that information doesn't have to be true to appear true in our minds. Slanderous ideas has the unfortionate ability to lend doubt to the hopeful, or convince the close minded that their preconceived opposition has merrit.
How's that for a biased opinion!
I've never met the man. I have no reason to believe he's a manifestation of God, or a child molester. But I'll tell you what's real for me, the spark in the tone and personality of Dr. Rankaduwa as he told me about his prophet. The smiles, and warmth that were added to our conversation as he mentions that he too hadn't met Sai Baba, but that the man had visited him is his dreams.
It's a beautiful thing to see the joy that real faith can give a man. I felt i was able to share that joy. Maybe joy can come from faith whether the faith is drawn from an impure person or not. Maybe the source has to be something special.
5am? what the fuck? I better put the phone by the bed so i wake up when linds calls.
If i am playing cards for instance, and this christian god exists, must it have been his choice to flop me the nut straight and give the nut flush to the player on the button? Was it god's choice that the turn be a non flush card, giving me valid reason to push in the rest of my tournement chips?
If i'm rolling dice, is god watching to see what happens? or has he already made up his mind.
Loel is frightfully good at drumming.
I didn't have any money on me last night, so i didn't use coat check. I was 3 rows back, middle dance floor, rocking my shit out with a hoodie and jacket on. I may have sweated as much as the musicians.
Upon leaving the venue, I and everyone else was confronted with a powerful quantity of rain. This was comically discouraging at first, so i stood outside the front door and watched people leave the building for a few minutes.
Fortunately, I came across lindsey currie, and i might have cemented myself a ride home for sunday. Note to self: Every time you find yourself in a city you dont live in, with no plans of escape, things work out perfectly.
I also saw this girl. She walked outside, looked around for a bit, probably said a thing or two, noticed me looking at her, and said hello. I said hello. Smiles. She moved on.
Fuck i like girls. It's almost not cool.
Well, it's only not cool cause i dont have one, and i'm not looking for one, and my standards are unholy, and if i had one i'd forget that i had problems. Problems being my source of motivation towards solutions.
I dont know what i just said. I'm SO done.
Not really though, last night, after a 40 minute hike through the halifax rains, i get to ranga's place, and attempt to let myself in through the back door he left open. It was not left open.
I went in through the front, leaving puddles to the basement stairs, i'm sure. It wasn't something i intended on, or had ways around, so i couldn't feel too bad.
Anyway, this morning i didn't feel nearly as good as i thought i would. I hoped to wake up early and make it to a brunch thing at the one world cafe, where there was music playing. Music started at 10ish, i think. And i woke up at quarter to noon.
I felt like i'd smoked drugs the night before, but i hadn't. It was one of those groggy i'm-just-gonna-lay-here-forever wakeups. And i'm coughing, which blows.
So my thoughts give me a nice little tour through the 'oh no, i'm deathly ill, it's probably cancer' places in my mind. I don't like the frequency of those thoughts. It makes me want to stop eating until i know i'm healthy. Maybe i should just go to a doctor and get a physical. I've never done that, to my knowledge.
Last night, walking through the rain, singing wintersleep tunes, i found myself thinking that i'm really happy to exist. Delightful.
I hope i'm not the only one with low expectations for this blog, but it's your fault if you dont.
The following is opinion.
I'm going to go on a limb here, and assume that Jesus was mortal. If Jesus was/is God, an entity which was/is in control of everything in the cosmos, then certainly speaking out on his behalf is unnecessary, because everything that he could've possibly wanted to happen, happened. I'll move on.
My biggest qualm with Christianity is their interpretation of Jesus's death. This interpretation is a direct result of Jesus being divine. With the divinity of Jesus a given, then his death is surely a matter of his choosing. And this completely releases his killers from any responsibility.
I think something worth thinking about is why the people of Jesus's time killed the best man among them. It's scary, the violence spawned by people who believe they are defending their values.
Once Jesus is thought of as divine, it is impossible to find fault in any facet of his death. Further distracting us from this descraceful human action is the idea that Jesus died to release us from our sins. That idea alone requires alot of faith; that either Jesus, or his father, God, determined that the whole of humanity required salvation. But God, in his infinite power, did not save/forgive us with just the will to do so. Instead, our salvation required that he bring the holy spirit into a virgin woman, have her raise a son, and then through the suffering of this son, the world of humanity is saved.
This connection makes no sense. How could the suffering of one (even if that one is the son of God) relieve the world from their sins? Why would God, in his infinite power and wisdom, decide that creating a perfect human, and then letting the world heap suffering upon him, is the best way for the people of the world to be saved?
The first step towards this manor of thinking (and an incorrect step, in this author's opinion) is that Jesus was divine. Once Jesus became God, it became absolutely necessary that his death was his choice. "Why would God choose to die?" is a question that easily follows, and a very easy answer to happen upon would be, "He died for us." God is surely on our side, and His death couldn't have done Him any good, so it must've helped us. The additional belief that he died so that we can still commit crimes against God [sins] doesn't make logical sense, but i can understand how it could be a nice selling point for christianity.
For fear of becoming any more redundant then i have been, i think i'll publish this now.
Is it wrong, or unfair in anyway to like a chick based on how she exists in my imagination? I've liked certain girls before, and currently like girls quite a bit that i dont know well at all. All i have of them is what i think they are, and what that means to me. Often i imagine girls as being a perfect symbol of something.
I think I jumped all over Jenny in that regard. Before i knew her very well at all, i had an ideal of what she would mean to me. And when nothing went wrong in the early goings, i was convinced of love.
Now, I'd be the first to say that i really dont know jenny at all. But she still holds a spot in my imagination as something very special. I dont think loving her before i got to know her did me any harm, i guess.
But i think it's definately possible that being very into somebody before getting to know them is troubling to the object of affection. They see themselves as imperfect (as we all should see ourselves) and would have very good reasons to doubt affection, due to a lack of history. I doubt that minds would be put at ease with "no, i dont love you, i just love my idea of you."
I dont expect i'll stop feeling what i feel. Maybe i'll just stop sharing it. This post is a poor start.
I'd like to celebrate somehow, but my only ideas are drugs and alcohol. Whatever happened to my imagination?
Maybe it's not so great when the interests you have are those of survival, reproduction, or power. Maybe i dont know what other interests we can have. I guess some sort of personal growth is good. But there's nothing to say that personal growth isn't just pretty words, and the goals are still power, sex, money (survival). I just know that doing things for other people tends to feel limiting.
Hurrah for thoughts that are difficult to put into words.
Here's a question i wrote in a journal in vancouver:
How much can expectations and hopes cloud my natural intentions?
I dont love the term "natural intentions," because it sounds like an oxymoron. Try "natural path" or something. Where i'd be, and what i'd do, if i had no hopes, no dreams, i just was. Some creature with all the intelegence of any other human, but 100% shaped by his/her environment, not at all by his/her desires (as 'good' as these desires appear to be).
It's kind of an ideal for me. To live and become something solely through the way i react to what's around me.
I think fears are bad (not something worth reacting to), but i'd venture they come from inside. From insecurity. Avoidance of death, whatever. I wish for curiosity to overcome fears. Challenge what my ego tells me to avoid.
Sometimes i get very disapointed by my lack of perfection. I find it so easy to sway off a 'perfect' regimen, of reading/writing, etc. I have an idea of what sort of path has no wasted activity, but here i am, drinking, jerking, eating, watching tv. Killing time for the sake of killing time. I feel i know there's a better way to be, but dispite this 'knowledge,' that's not how i am. Failure dispite the known path. Lack of dicipline.
I'll deal, obviously. Take care.
I used to go play basketball whenever i found it raining especially hard. What a treat.
Just a moment ago i took it upon myself to put on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (a Neutral Milk Hotel album) and grab my skipping rope, and skip and sing. It's not the first time i've skipped and sang. Wont be the last. Feels good for my lungs.
Anyway, i'm not here to try and sound special. I just thought i might have a chance to inspire someone to do something weird, cause it's something they love.
Rock on, siblings.
Hey! My house got an egg thrown at it! It took like 30 minutes to clean off, i had to take of a window screen and junk. I feel like such a victim.
Every vote counts. If a democrat gets 40% of the votes, and a republican gets 60% of the votes, then each man is entitled to sit in office and determine what to do with the tax dollars that his voters pay to him.
If we look at the number of individual in office, whether it be national, provincial, municipal, and think that everyone who gets a vote deserves to be in office, then there's certainly too many people in government receiving a paycheque. Especially in Canada, we've got a few more parties to deal with. In this sense, maybe a polititian should be able to determine their own salary based on the tax dollars of those who voted for them. It'd be nice if salaries had to be declared and put into writing before election, so voters would know what their supposed leader is hoping to get out of the deal.
In the states, i'd say if the presedent wanted to go to war, then those of whom that didn't vote for him cannot be drafted, although they would still have the right to join the air forces if they wished.
I just like the idea that every individual is led by the person they want as a leader. It grew out of me while i was reading some Albert Einstein quotes.
- I am quite aware that for any organisation to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader.
I would love to have people point out flaws in my idea, so that it may react, and evolve into something possible.
We dont live in the same world. If we lived in the same world we'd all act the same. All of our worlds are constructed differently, through our pasts. We should not expect to think like other people, and we should not believe other people should think like us. If you have to fight to have the world a certain way, then that's not the way the world should be. Just imagine your perfect world, and then live in it. Your perfect world should not require participation from others. You are one. I am one. Live the way you want it all to be.
Do sad songs make the listener feel sad or happy? If i can objectify someone or something as being sad, can/does that remove sadness from myself?
It's hard to think that one emotion is better than another.
I heard about a man today. Saibaba. Lives in India. Sounds like a special guy.
update:
I just checked the internet to see what they had to say about this guy. There was a few websites I expected to see, with quotes and such from the man. And there was a few websites i didn't expect to see, labeling him as a sexual preditor, who's primary interest is young men.
Sorry, they didn't necessarily label him anything, they just asked the question, is he a prophet or a sexual menace?
It made me sad to read that sort of thing. It sucks that information doesn't have to be true to appear true in our minds. Slanderous ideas has the unfortionate ability to lend doubt to the hopeful, or convince the close minded that their preconceived opposition has merrit.
How's that for a biased opinion!
I've never met the man. I have no reason to believe he's a manifestation of God, or a child molester. But I'll tell you what's real for me, the spark in the tone and personality of Dr. Rankaduwa as he told me about his prophet. The smiles, and warmth that were added to our conversation as he mentions that he too hadn't met Sai Baba, but that the man had visited him is his dreams.
It's a beautiful thing to see the joy that real faith can give a man. I felt i was able to share that joy. Maybe joy can come from faith whether the faith is drawn from an impure person or not. Maybe the source has to be something special.
5am? what the fuck? I better put the phone by the bed so i wake up when linds calls.
If there is such a thing as a Christian God, something that is all knowing, all powerful and such, would humans be able to play in areas outside his control? Would their be such a thing as random events?
If i am playing cards for instance, and this christian god exists, must it have been his choice to flop me the nut straight and give the nut flush to the player on the button? Was it god's choice that the turn be a non flush card, giving me valid reason to push in the rest of my tournement chips?
If i'm rolling dice, is god watching to see what happens? or has he already made up his mind.
Last night was the finest wintersleep performance i've seen, as far as i can tell. I'd rather recreate the first shoreline experience, but that's mostly due to the sunset.
Loel is frightfully good at drumming.
I didn't have any money on me last night, so i didn't use coat check. I was 3 rows back, middle dance floor, rocking my shit out with a hoodie and jacket on. I may have sweated as much as the musicians.
Upon leaving the venue, I and everyone else was confronted with a powerful quantity of rain. This was comically discouraging at first, so i stood outside the front door and watched people leave the building for a few minutes.
Fortunately, I came across lindsey currie, and i might have cemented myself a ride home for sunday. Note to self: Every time you find yourself in a city you dont live in, with no plans of escape, things work out perfectly.
I also saw this girl. She walked outside, looked around for a bit, probably said a thing or two, noticed me looking at her, and said hello. I said hello. Smiles. She moved on.
Fuck i like girls. It's almost not cool.
Well, it's only not cool cause i dont have one, and i'm not looking for one, and my standards are unholy, and if i had one i'd forget that i had problems. Problems being my source of motivation towards solutions.
I dont know what i just said. I'm SO done.
Not really though, last night, after a 40 minute hike through the halifax rains, i get to ranga's place, and attempt to let myself in through the back door he left open. It was not left open.
I went in through the front, leaving puddles to the basement stairs, i'm sure. It wasn't something i intended on, or had ways around, so i couldn't feel too bad.
Anyway, this morning i didn't feel nearly as good as i thought i would. I hoped to wake up early and make it to a brunch thing at the one world cafe, where there was music playing. Music started at 10ish, i think. And i woke up at quarter to noon.
I felt like i'd smoked drugs the night before, but i hadn't. It was one of those groggy i'm-just-gonna-lay-here-forever wakeups. And i'm coughing, which blows.
So my thoughts give me a nice little tour through the 'oh no, i'm deathly ill, it's probably cancer' places in my mind. I don't like the frequency of those thoughts. It makes me want to stop eating until i know i'm healthy. Maybe i should just go to a doctor and get a physical. I've never done that, to my knowledge.
Last night, walking through the rain, singing wintersleep tunes, i found myself thinking that i'm really happy to exist. Delightful.
I hope i'm not the only one with low expectations for this blog, but it's your fault if you dont.
"When I grow up I want to think that everything is beautiful, even skunks and porkupines." - Miss X, a student in my mother's class.
Critique on Christianity
The following is opinion.
I'm going to go on a limb here, and assume that Jesus was mortal. If Jesus was/is God, an entity which was/is in control of everything in the cosmos, then certainly speaking out on his behalf is unnecessary, because everything that he could've possibly wanted to happen, happened. I'll move on.
My biggest qualm with Christianity is their interpretation of Jesus's death. This interpretation is a direct result of Jesus being divine. With the divinity of Jesus a given, then his death is surely a matter of his choosing. And this completely releases his killers from any responsibility.
I think something worth thinking about is why the people of Jesus's time killed the best man among them. It's scary, the violence spawned by people who believe they are defending their values.
Once Jesus is thought of as divine, it is impossible to find fault in any facet of his death. Further distracting us from this descraceful human action is the idea that Jesus died to release us from our sins. That idea alone requires alot of faith; that either Jesus, or his father, God, determined that the whole of humanity required salvation. But God, in his infinite power, did not save/forgive us with just the will to do so. Instead, our salvation required that he bring the holy spirit into a virgin woman, have her raise a son, and then through the suffering of this son, the world of humanity is saved.
This connection makes no sense. How could the suffering of one (even if that one is the son of God) relieve the world from their sins? Why would God, in his infinite power and wisdom, decide that creating a perfect human, and then letting the world heap suffering upon him, is the best way for the people of the world to be saved?
The first step towards this manor of thinking (and an incorrect step, in this author's opinion) is that Jesus was divine. Once Jesus became God, it became absolutely necessary that his death was his choice. "Why would God choose to die?" is a question that easily follows, and a very easy answer to happen upon would be, "He died for us." God is surely on our side, and His death couldn't have done Him any good, so it must've helped us. The additional belief that he died so that we can still commit crimes against God [sins] doesn't make logical sense, but i can understand how it could be a nice selling point for christianity.
For fear of becoming any more redundant then i have been, i think i'll publish this now.
Here's a question.
Is it wrong, or unfair in anyway to like a chick based on how she exists in my imagination? I've liked certain girls before, and currently like girls quite a bit that i dont know well at all. All i have of them is what i think they are, and what that means to me. Often i imagine girls as being a perfect symbol of something.
I think I jumped all over Jenny in that regard. Before i knew her very well at all, i had an ideal of what she would mean to me. And when nothing went wrong in the early goings, i was convinced of love.
Now, I'd be the first to say that i really dont know jenny at all. But she still holds a spot in my imagination as something very special. I dont think loving her before i got to know her did me any harm, i guess.
But i think it's definately possible that being very into somebody before getting to know them is troubling to the object of affection. They see themselves as imperfect (as we all should see ourselves) and would have very good reasons to doubt affection, due to a lack of history. I doubt that minds would be put at ease with "no, i dont love you, i just love my idea of you."
I dont expect i'll stop feeling what i feel. Maybe i'll just stop sharing it. This post is a poor start.
I am like, the happiest kid in school. My drum kit arrived today. It's not really mine, but it's in my house now. I just hammered away at 'er for about an hour. Tis the season to be jolly.
I'd like to celebrate somehow, but my only ideas are drugs and alcohol. Whatever happened to my imagination?
I'd like to prove somehow that the best course of action that a person can take is acting with their own self interest at hand. Let me add that oftentimes being generous concerns personal interests in so much as you feel good about yourself when you're nice to people.
Maybe it's not so great when the interests you have are those of survival, reproduction, or power. Maybe i dont know what other interests we can have. I guess some sort of personal growth is good. But there's nothing to say that personal growth isn't just pretty words, and the goals are still power, sex, money (survival). I just know that doing things for other people tends to feel limiting.
Hurrah for thoughts that are difficult to put into words.
Here's a question i wrote in a journal in vancouver:
How much can expectations and hopes cloud my natural intentions?
I dont love the term "natural intentions," because it sounds like an oxymoron. Try "natural path" or something. Where i'd be, and what i'd do, if i had no hopes, no dreams, i just was. Some creature with all the intelegence of any other human, but 100% shaped by his/her environment, not at all by his/her desires (as 'good' as these desires appear to be).
It's kind of an ideal for me. To live and become something solely through the way i react to what's around me.
I think fears are bad (not something worth reacting to), but i'd venture they come from inside. From insecurity. Avoidance of death, whatever. I wish for curiosity to overcome fears. Challenge what my ego tells me to avoid.
Sometimes i get very disapointed by my lack of perfection. I find it so easy to sway off a 'perfect' regimen, of reading/writing, etc. I have an idea of what sort of path has no wasted activity, but here i am, drinking, jerking, eating, watching tv. Killing time for the sake of killing time. I feel i know there's a better way to be, but dispite this 'knowledge,' that's not how i am. Failure dispite the known path. Lack of dicipline.
I'll deal, obviously. Take care.
I feel really good when i realize how weird my actions are, and realize how easy it would be to stand by those actions, dispite what other people would think.
I used to go play basketball whenever i found it raining especially hard. What a treat.
Just a moment ago i took it upon myself to put on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (a Neutral Milk Hotel album) and grab my skipping rope, and skip and sing. It's not the first time i've skipped and sang. Wont be the last. Feels good for my lungs.
Anyway, i'm not here to try and sound special. I just thought i might have a chance to inspire someone to do something weird, cause it's something they love.
Rock on, siblings.
Hey! My house got an egg thrown at it! It took like 30 minutes to clean off, i had to take of a window screen and junk. I feel like such a victim.