Thoughts from atop a Mountain

Life.
At least, my life, should be filled mostly with silence and thought, broken only by moments of music, laughter, secret smiles, and occasional tears.
We find ourselves living in a world filled with constant noise and distraction.
I find myself in a videogame world turning off the background music and listening for the sounds that the game designers wanted me to hear fill our shared world.
I find myself lying in bed in the morning listening for the silence longing to live somewhere where there are no bullets. I find myself wishing I lived alone in a forest where the only noise is the soft creaking of old trees, the soft rush of running, falling water, the whisper of bird song filtering through the foliage and the murmur of my own breathing.
Here on the morning, there is a blessed silence unbroken even by the planes in the sky, the traffic so distant below, a neutral plane of existence somewhere in between the chaos of life below and the wonder of emptiness above.
It's a place where poetry can take place far, far away from the mess of emotions and the madness of consent. Finding an inner calm even man made music takes on a new form of being and I find myself contemplating the things that I would otherwise dismiss as too distracting to include in my regular thought process.
What things?
Dreams. Dreams of what I want to be, dreams of what I wanted to be, and dreams of what happened anyway in spite of me believing that life would be different somehow.
One dream I have, often in waking fashion, is the one where I am with my brother and all the things that continually drive us apart are absent and we could be what we never really were. Together we walk through the waking adventure as my mind constructs my own desire until I am reminded with the certain regret that it cannot ever be and then I find myself wishing that the dream would just find someone else to haunt while still being happy, somehow- that they still happen. It's hard to put it into words that capture what the idea of "sweet regret" actually is.
I dream of not being alone. That there is someone else there with me. I didn't ever have a significant other so it's not a memory- but more like a memory of a desire unfulfilled as I grow older and the pain has softened into an endurable loss as I long for a touch I have never felt but often imagined.
Again, how do you tell someone, that you look forward to that kind of feeling when you can't even really describe who you want to be with and yet the feeling is acute and sharp as if the whole experience is about to happen?

I stop to consider that once, when the world was newer to me and our cultural background could be ignored as readily as all the grief and problems that come with awareness and understanding of the world around us bring, back to an idea of innocence that was as insubstantial as the morning mist yet the only reality that so many children experience between the rush of puberty and parental interference creates. Which is to say (the long way around) youth. That we did not qualify anyone else save by how kind or unkind they were to us. When what they believed was unimportant since we were more interested in what they could pretend was more important and playable. when the kid who had the best imagination took the lead, not the most athletic or best looking or any of the anchors that drown us in modern life were less important or crucial to play than could my stick be a sword and could the imaginary become enough of a reality to fill the hours in between lunch and having to be home for a bath and or dinner.
I know that not all children are given this gift, but those who do, forget it all too soon if they had it at all. We like to think it existed before technology came to rob it away but the truth is closer to the truth that grownups and grownup problems took it away from us long before some box invade our collective realities.
Children should just be allowed to be children.
That is all.

Anywho, now life invades and I must march off to a grownup event filled with all the importance that is devoid of play.
and that is life according to Mike.

Yup, we are living in the dark ages.

There is a war on enlightenment.
There is a war on reason.
There is a war on empiricism.
There is a war.
It is all the same war.
What war?
Well, the short answer is this.

err- I mean it's complicated.

Once upon a time, I thought like this.

When the last child cries for a crust of bread
when the last man dies for just words that he said
when there's shelter over the poor estate
when the last thing we notice is the color of skin
and the first thing we look for is the beauty within
when the skies and the oceans are clean again
when we're free to love anyone we choose
when the world is big enough for all different views
when money talks for the very last time
and nobody walks a step behind
when there's only one race and that's mankind...
we shall be free?

Sorry Garth, nice song but no dice.

got the tee shirt though only $25 what a deal and its 4x because I feel the love that much...also it was the only choice because they don't make shirts for whales.

ou don't need to watch this unless you are really this curious about what is happening in this country and the world.

The Irony for me, It is Irony.

The two proponents for denying science are sworn enemies for the most part.

The USA: Republicans and conservatives and their ilk are waging a war of plausible deniability on almost every facet of science, as well as pushing to insert their own pseudo sciences as being equatable to or better than proven scientific fact. But it's not just them, Religions are hopping in as well. Fanatical backlash is gaining a foothold on this country's ability to reason.

and

The Middle East: the "Muslims" or as I would say where Ultra Conservatives or Extremists hold power and can control what anyone wants to believe or practice under the guise of upholding the one true religion (theirs not anyone else's. This is ironic since, in many ways, science began there in those regions, they were the strongholds of research and reasoning, Men looked beyond the gods and religions to ask what is the universe. Now, it appears that is long gone along with the ruins and few artifacts that remain that haven't been hijacked and turned into something it wasn't.

My point is not actually to go into a comparison on the two but just to draw attention to the understanding that it's not just an American thing. It's like capital punishment. America and Saudi Arabia (and some other middle east countries...) If you understand that, then we are good, if not the cosmic joke has passed you by...move on.

My point is The War on Enlightenment is really the return of the Dark Ages where (purportedly) willful ignorance and fear ruled over reason and the desire to understand the world (creation).

What do I mean by Enlightenment?

By definition Enlightenment is understanding, awareness, wisdom, education, learning, knowledge;

going from relative ignorance to a state of intellectual ability to process reason. Growing up in the common tongue. Not being an idiot...well that's relative. 

Enlightenment also refers to European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition (Merriam-Webster).

Which was the end of the Dark Ages (or so they thought).

Humans are consistently stubborn.

I am not going to go into detail. I am not writing the book. I just want to make a point and that is to stop denying that we (anyone who thinks that we should be free) need to understand that someone or something wants mankind to plunge back into a world filled with darkness and demons where knowing what is good is nearly impossible with all that is evil.

Overly simplistic but that is what you get when the term Dark Ages is not enough.

Lastly, I want to say something about revisionism. 

the theory or practice of revising one's attitude to a previously accepted situation or point of view. (M-W)

and more importantly

Historical revisionism is a practice in historiography in which a historian reinterprets traditional views of causes and effects, decisions, and evidence. It is said that "history is written by the winners." Thus, it is essential that we look at history with a critical eye. As such, it is an accepted and important part of historical endeavor for it serves the dual purpose of constantly re-examining the past while also improving our understanding of it. Indeed, if one accepts that history attempts to help us better understand today by better understanding how we got here, revisionism is essential. Only idiots take history wholeheartedly as indisputable facts. (wikipedia)

The main point of this is that we are in an age of constant revisionism, some of which is necessary.

Overwhelmingly (in my point of view) revisionism is one of the worst handled practices known to man.

Examples:

The North (the Unionists) revised the history of the Civil War to be about Slavery. It was and it wasn't (as any Confederate could have told you) Southerner's (the real ones or the reasonable ones) will tell you that it wasn't about slavery, it was called the war of Northern Aggression by the South (Confederacy of Southern States) not let's kill thousands of Americans because some of them wanted slavery. If it had been that, it would have been a much shorter war. But the South lost. The Revisionists won their rewrite of American History. Now the Blacks (African Americans - in a massive misuse of generalism on my part- to which I will never live the shame down on- won their right to blame everyone for everything- again I am exaggerating (not a lot though) [nah, I am kidding, but the side that gets the most attention presents the whole idea of revising history like this]

The Holocaust was a Jewish Thing. It wasn't but the winners and more importantly those who want it to be solely about the Jews made it so. Anyone who disagrees is shouted out of the building. 

Homosexuality. Don't get me wrong, I know that gay men weren't unique and only appeared during the 20th century, but claiming every great artist, philosopher, musician and "good guy" was gay is ridiculous. At least the other non-heteros haven't succumbed to this....not! It is quite entertaining albeit one sided. Still with Straight White History running the world some of it has validity.

I somehow doubt we will ever get the "straight" version of the bent nature of human history.

and the list goes on.

I will digress to one last point of revisionism that really troubles me.

Maybe I was taught wrong by dozens of really smart and educated teachers and professors, but no new idea is ever immediately accepted  by everyone.

Why do I bring this up? 

Because I had a friend (maybe he was right, he never once admitted he could be wrong and he took a certain glee in ramming it down my throat) inform me that the scientific community accepted relativity immediately and wholeheartedly. 

Apparently all those teachers and professors and wikipedia and google had it wrong.

I definitely had it wrong and like an worm I rolled over and let him pound me for it.

Sadly or fortunately, it was the end of my friendship with him. I mean even if he is right or mostly right, he was wrong. I probably will never think of him as my equal or for that matter friend again.

It's too bad. 

but I return to my song. I still want to be free. Even if that means that the "scientists" aren't on my side.

If you stop and take a look around, you will find the revisionism taking place everywhere.

It's going to be painful. Some good will come out of it. Though, for all the hope I originally had for it, most of it will be harmful since even the sides- groups I would agree with will not settle for moderation, it will be their way or no way, it seems.

All of us has a story like this.

Let me know if you would like to add to this brief (not brief diatribe)

If you don't believe me, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself if you can believe in science and god at the same time?

or can you include evolution in Genesis.

or can you accept that America did not rescue the world in WWII without other's help, or that Japan would have surrendered without being nuked first.

or that reality may not be exactly the way you have always believed or known it to be.

I am not perfect nor all knowing, but I know certain things to be true for me.

I am not about to ram it into you because I want to feel validation at being right.

I want us all to be free, even the idiots.

and that it Life according to Mike.