Late Night Post #7

Chinese representation of Fu Xi by an anonymous artist.

Lei Qiang - The Flickering of the Candle Flame
Chinese music might  be somewhat of an acquired taste for some so be patient, give it time and it will grow on you.

Life is a gift, however this gift is reserved for a few, lucky enough to be born under more auspicious circumstances than others. For the vast majority life is a challenge, a contest, a fight for survival and so they made their philosophies and religions accordingly. In my short existence, till now, I have made a few conclusions which I would like to share with those who care. Trust is most often a Trojan horse and maybe that's why people tend to place their trust in the most "nonhuman" places like trust in God, trust in science, trust in philosophy and so on. A divinity, universal and personal at the same time, a concept or a branch of human activity and even objects end up with our trust more often than other humans or even ourselves.

Novalis, Marx, Lenin were all right when they said in their own ways that religion is like opium for the people. However I tend do disagree on the actual significance of such a statement, as I have seen, without a religion to either dominate through fear or enlighten through example, humans are indeed the most savage animals on this planet, it is simple as that, it's in our nature.  We bring destruction to ourselves but we don't see, actually it's even worse, we tend to seek dark and muddy places because the actual concept of enlightenment is very distant from most of us.

For me it's hard to see suffering and violence because it's all based on lies, on suspicions or on misunderstandings, greed and power. People dying for what... for nothing. It doesn't matter if you are a Christian or not, the story of why and how Christ was crucified is the story of our species, the story of the few that have to live in a world of savages, divine grace can only do so much when it comes to the wickedness of man.

Art should be the creation of a well balanced mind and a worm soul like that of ancient Chinese scholars who used to retire in the mountains, often alone, and painted only to express their spiritual experiences and philosophical ideas (Dao), like they also did with music. Antiquity, generally, viewed art as it truly should be viewed, now we live in a world where this form of expression is with nothing less different from the cinema in the book "Brave New World", an experience for the senses packed with action and grotesque emotional drives. This is the art for the masses. While some artists try to uplift people, most like to see others dance in their slime, they usually are the stars because the "people in the markets" simply love them. As I have stated in past articles, I don't place myself apart from the "people in the markets", however I have glanced at better things and I have faith.

This site was planed to galvanize people around a few simple ideas and grow from there into a community of men and women who seek God and want to understand and help others to understand. God can stand for enlightenment, for inner peace, generally understood as opposing ignorance. During these years I have indeed met great people who helped me in my journey and I hope that I was a good influence to at least one of you. I apologize for my shortcomings. This being said I plan to take some time off from writing, maybe if conditions will prove favorable I will someday return. All the best to you all.

Passing Thought: Synthetic Meat

The first synthetic meat burger has been cooked and eaten, what next? While most people are arguing whether this type of food is healthy and others imagine it will end hunger once it's price will be drastically lowered, some think this technology will prove more useful in space exploration. NASA has been experimenting with this technology for some time, however the pioneers of synthetic foods are the Russians. Seeing how the US no longer has an active manned space exploration program, Russia, China and private projects like Mars One will most likely pick up on the technology and ultimately put it into practice.

Late Night Post #6

  Music: Crown of Thorns - Pictures

There is a deep void of spiritual and intellectual understanding of the world, acting like a black hole engulfing everything in its vicinity. Apparently this situation is not limited to our time, from Confucius to Nietzsche the vast majority of scholars agree that when it comes to the "people in the market" there aren't many things you can expect. I'm one of them from time to time, like most of us, we can't actually break free from ourselves and self-overcoming can only do so much.

Our lives are centered around technology, our education is mostly centered around technology and this wouldn't be a bad thing if it wouldn't neglect spiritual development. Through this spiritual aspect I understand both religious education and philosophy, helping everyone develop in their own way and own pace. Less standardization and more efficient usage of man's capabilities. The most difficult aspect of this reform would be finding all the right teachers. We are so busy with building better machines that we have stopped ourselves from climbing to our own heights, we are even contemplating falling in a valley of emotional hypocrisy and violence.

[Crown of Thorns was a Canadian New Wave / Synth-Pop band, the song is from 1983]

Late Night Post #5

Strange ways by Mikko Lagerstedt

-  Сиануквиль by СПЛИН 

There are some who think they are the bearers of the ultimate truth, their opinions transforming into unshakable certainties and with any occasion, compelled to give the final verdict. Sick people, people who regard their mirror image as the source of everything, their essence, a child of countless trivialities. This place should only be regarded as a stepping stone across the river of trivialities, find inside yourself that place which will set you free and keep it secret.