Happiness is a process that you continue to change,
in fact, you never use the same process twice.
All processes are defined by brain context,
which is defined by environmental and metacognitive context.

But is this all predefined by something beyond physical determinism?

That would be, in a word, mind.

Mind determines happiness in relation to brain context,
which is in relation to physical and metacognitive contexts.

In fact, it is your mind that sets the variables.
So much happens unconsciously,
it is difficult to track it all.
It must be felt and responded to as if in a movie.
One must imagine being in a movie that must continue to be entertaining for all those that are watching and acting in it.

It must be good for all players,
so it is your job to act your part,
whatever that may be,
and hope that you are allowed to move onto the next scene,
in which you are the star of the show.

☯: I used to be a taoist
but couldn’t feel in black and white

✴: I used to be a buddhist
but symbols labeled me at night

☆: I used to be a child
but biology chose me not to rest

♥: I used to be a somebody
but then of just-about-anyone I thought the best

∆: I used to be a liberal
but had great energy to conserve

⚡: Then I saw solar and was green to convert
but knew pollution could not all be environmentally cured

♦: So now I write
because the words are not set tight
before my pen rolls over them
the linear gift of a gem of my choice
the present my thoughts of profound and deep voice

unrecognized labor, it’s like
diplomacy failing to reconcile greedy ego speed
and compassion filled wishing well deeds,
or one too many attempts at subtlety wrapped comically
big in philosophical arrangements, tenacious.
wishing it would all just
coalesce and acquiesce
in other words, gel
jam,
god damn,
it must be done just
work together,
recognize the dissolution of words
brought on by your reading me bland
like you puff away unwanted feathers above,
too lazy to use your hand.
maybe you know it but read on ever blindly, thus,
recognize the fact that i can’t help you all that much
you will mostly have to do it by yourself it seems
but you will do it,
and well, nonetheless,
for you are you, and i am me,
and we are together humanity, said so sardonically,
strained by scarcity propped up with patronizing animosity.
what makes it so hard to snap off the
clingy tendrils of dogma destined to
destroy those of us who look bleak?
let decaying vines crumble earthwise,
back down to base materialism not,
don’t let the wasted possibilities melt
in with our spent passion hot,
that which was meant
to be recovered, remade.
don’t back down to the base materialism we hate.
don’t back down at all.
answer the call – it’s for you…
i don’t want to hear you moan.
climb out of your fuzzy notions of hope of far-too-self-delimiting a scope.
let the curtains rest aside and the sunlight attest
to the fact that
we’re all doomed to
wear our best vest
on the day that we feel the worst,
but it’s no curse,
it’s just the first day we rehearse.
everyday should be this tangibly bitterly incomplete,
but not so much to
deplete that which keeps us up to
hear tales of grand folk
who smiled wide walking down empty wet streets.

Dr. Cornel West on the importance of philosophy and the examined life. He says so much in every sentence, I had to watch it at least three times to take it all in. We are being towards death. We have desire in the face of death. We face dogmatism and attempt dialogue within a cultural sphere quite limited by the structures of domination. We wrestle with it all, as he says, trying to keep alive democracy and individual dignity at the same time. I haven’t watched the film yet, but I will post here when I do…

The Actual Movie: Examined Life (IMDB: 7.1/10 rating)

“The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.” — Diderot

Knowledge of the truth I may perhaps have attained to; happiness, certainly not. What shall I do? Accomplish something in the world, men tell me. Shall I then publish my grief to the world, contribute one more proof for the wretchedness and misery of existence, perhaps discover a new flaw in human life, hitherto unnoticed? I might then reap the rare reward of becoming famous, like the man who discovered the spots on Jupiter. I prefer, however, to keep silent.

Seemingly filled with anguish, this character actually expresses the dead end that is science and logical empiricism. While they open new pathways to innovation, technology, and more, the net gain for humanity in terms of enabling happiness is minimal, Author A finds. What joy comes to the individual is the short-lived pleasure of fame as a problem-solver and perhaps a kind of moral superiority. What I take from this passage is not that scientific pursuits are insolvent, but that we need to follow our hearts and intuition at times, let ourselves be animals at times, find joy in new and random adventures, spontaneity and silliness. There is a qualitative difference between discovering the truth of life and living it – although, some have argued that the good life is the examined life… I leave it open for debate as I present something entirely different:

The disproportion in my build is that my forelegs are too short. Like the kangaroo, I have very short forelegs, and tremendously long hind legs. Ordinarily I sit quite still; but if I move, the tremendous leap that follows strikes terror in all to whom I am bound by the tender ties of kinship and friendship.

Author A is an aesthetic type. He tends to enjoy chaos, ego-trips, and a dark, witty humor. At other times, however, a slapstick feel emerges, like in imagining a kangaroo jumping forward and simultaneously yanking all the many strings connected to himself, knocking over a whole gang of oblivious kangaroo buddies nearby. Basically, the author is creating chaos and displaying wit through the actions of this kangaroo written into your imagination. In the next quote, we see more of his propensity for existential depth.

One must be very naïve to believe that it will do any good to cry out and shout in the world, as if that would change one’s fate. Better take things as they come, and make no fuss. When I was young and went into a restaurant, I would say to the waiter, “A good cut, a very good cut, from the loin, and not too fat.” Perhaps the waiter did not even hear me, to say nothing of paying any attention to my request, and still less was it likely that my voice should reach the kitchen and influence the cook, and even if it did, there was perhaps not a good cut on the entire roast. Now I never shout any more.

More than futility, this statement seems to address the necessity of shouting, namely, that there is none; the author has no need to shout, nor does he find it helpful. Symbolically, we can take this as advocating a lassie-fare attitude towards life. Certainly not an option for all people in the world, for some find the majority of actions in life set by necessity, the need to survive, to support a family. While I would not intend to maintain the privileged minority at the expense of an impoverished majority (I prefer meritocracy ideally), nor would I push guilt on those with privileges like that of an almost-guaranteed survival. Merely I wish to convey to you, those capable of reading and ingesting this thrivenote, that you are fortunate – so fortunate that you can choose your way of relating to reality. Choose well and enjoy!

JUST GHOSTS
To define Reality,
we must define Experience,
yet we must also define:
the Experiencer, Consciousness, Life, the Universe, etc.

WHAT IS REAL?
In one model of the Universe, 99.999% of all Matter is empty.
(Think hydrogen.)
A proton’s mass is mostly Energy.
(Look quantum.)
Normal Matter fills *only 5%* of the known space in the Universe.
Meaning we, the Experiencers,
can only directly grasp 5% of what exists materially.
And all of it is empty.
Because 9.999 = 10, just as 3.333 = 3.
(Think fractions, 1/3)

ABSURD LOGIC

Matter is both here and not here and we don’t know how or why.

WE ARE CHASING GHOSTS

Our Reality we generally define by what we sense:
Intuition, feelings, scent, touch, taste, sight, and sound.
A sense of Reality, Freedom, Truth, Justice,
Fashion, Compassion, Whatever.
All of these senses rely directly on the schema/ego of the Experiencer.
And we are able to process
only a small minority of what we are able to sense.
And some sense that they are free to believe anything,
because that is part of their schema.
A schema made up of everything processed during their life…

So, we come up with metaphors and diagrams and theories on
Life and Reality.
Taking, then, our constructs and descriptions and images
as reality.
We tell it to ourselves, and it becomes true.

ABSURD LOGIC

Once in a while, reality comes knocking on the door.
You say, [ Hold on a sec! I'll be right there.
Gotta finish your diagram! ]
Or maybe your diagram is true…
Maybe it was reality knocking on its own door.

THIS TOO IS A GHOST

Old man time just keeps on running.
You can try to run with him.
You can try to run ahead of him,
but you’ll almost definitely trip.
You may lag behind him,
but he’s got a chain on your leg,
and he’s unstoppable,
so you’re gonna get dragged through the dirt,
and get all bruised up,
and it’ll be a terrible mess.
So pick yourself up.

Start running.
You may find your optimal pace
is actually the same as the old man.
Old men don’t run too fast, after all.
It could be fun — I mean,
you can actually decide where to run.
You just gotta stick with the old guy…

Your intuition is the best direction,
whether it takes you through the forest,
to a friend’s house or yours,
to your enemy’s lair or the moon,
Follow it at a good pace.
It’ll be the best run of your life.