aesgard's Blog

Secrets of the Universe, archive file #010101. There was an old corn flakes cereal slogan  that went something like this: "Corn Flakes, try them again for the very first time." Catchy, but then the coffee grower's industry did it one better: "Coffee, it picks you up and calms you down." Next up for sale, Marie Antoinette cakes, "you can have your cake and eat it too."  It was the beginning that softened up the critical thinking skills of the masses, needed for well, critical thinking. Whenever you juxtapose conflicting concepts and then associate them with the same thing, it causes the mind to lock-up; there by causing the listener to stop what they are doing and try to figure the meaning of the statement out. 

Don't bother, there isn't one. So after a million thought prompts like these, the individual's mind eventually learns to shut-off it's cognitive thinking process.  In this softened-up, turned-off state, the target is now ready to assimilate anything it's told. 

The universe doesn't work like that. It doesn't tell you its secrets hundreds of times a minute on every channel. Like the Oracle of Delphi predictions, the Universe's secrets are written down on a fallen, brown leaf. If you are not there to discover it, it crumbles, blows away and disappears forever. So sad, too bad. No soup for you. 

So here again for the very first time, a smattering of the universe's secrets that pick you up and calm you down. 

1. It's never just one thing. 

People continually look for the "magic" bullet or pill to solve their problems, never realizing what they perceive as their problem is only the symptom, not the core problem. 

What they fail to realize is that it's never just one problem and that everyone's problems are all inter-related. Meaning the magic solution isn't that simple. But by adapting the attitude that what causes problems is never just one thing, then they can begin to head new problems off at the pass while they work on the old ones. Yeah, if only. 

2. Things can always get worse, and then it rains. 

There's another saying that goes along with this one: "It's always darkest before dawn." The reason why it's dark is because its a storm front coming in and y'all better get in the ark now ya hear? There are always worse problems out there. You lost your home and you're hungry in the land of milk and honey? O.k. how about the people in the same boat, but suffer it in a war-torn country? Is it raining yet? Recognize your problem for what it is and don't waste time, energy and resources lamenting how bad it is, it can always get worse and then it's gonna rain. Stop and think about it. 

3. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

You work a full-time thankless job. You barely provide food and clothing for your five kids.  For recreation you scrounge junk yard auto parts to build a mud bog vehicle. It's a well earned recreation, right? You get totally hammered on Bud and JD, run your rig into the redline blowing your engine and flipping the mudder end over end, where you seriously injure yourself, lose your job and run up a hundred thousand dollars in medical bills. Yeah, you can do that, but it doesn't mean you should. 

4. Life isn't rocket science, and more technology isn't going to help.

There's an old Zen Koan that goes: "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water."  If you can understand and accomplish that much, half the battle is won. But we, as a malcontent species, like things complicated. Before we can proverbially dress, feed or wipe ourselves, we need fast cars, bell and whistle cell phones, five thousand square foot homes for two people who are never there to live in them and one shopping mall per family. No one makes the connection of their woes to this mind set. It's non-negotiable. Wanna bet? Go ahead, send that text, I'll wait. 

5. Choice is man's most powerful ability.

Many people feel freedom has to come before choice. Actually, you have to first CHOOSE freedom to then gain freedom of choice. Yeah, it's kind of like a chicken and egg thing, but when you're making omelette, it really doesn't matter. It would be redundant to list every minutia we have the power of choice over. Yet, it would illustrate just how important and incorporated into our lives "choice" is. If you don't understand the magnitude the power of choice wields, then you will probably give much of that power away. If you do understand the power of choice, then you will wield it wisely and weigh your decisions carefully. It is in the power of choice you will notice the changes in your life the most. 

Choose to understand how connected your life is to every living entity on this planet. Choose to understand that making the right choices will either make a situation worse or better, regardless whether it rains or not. Choose to understand that what you can do ends up being what you should do. Choose the sustainably simple over the complexities of technology. Choose to believe in your individual effect on your own life. 

The secrets of the universe are organic and analogue not synthetic and digital. The creations of man are like bad xerox copies of the original. Man looks at the universe and all he can do is compare apples and oranges. The same way he looked at the invention of the wheel, saw that it wasn't broken and tried to invent a better mouse trap anyway. 

Edison admits discovering 2000 ways NOT to construct a light bulb. Too bad he didn't spend his time and resources looking for a more efficient energy source. But these are man's fascination with complexity. 

1. Cell phones make you stupid.

Very convincing hype surrounds the marketing of the ubiquitous cell phone. A used car salesman isn't going to spend an hour pointing out the flaws in the rusted jalopy he is trying to saddle his mark with. Cell phones are a false sense of security. They allow you to be forgetful, they provide novel ways of spending your money and wasting your time. They don't float, you can't eat them, and they are reported to subject you to unwanted radiation. The service is contracted, regulated, proprietary, and can change without consumer/user accord. A common cell phone plan runs almost $200/month and doesn't guarantee uninterrupted service unless the user shackles themselves to a designated area. The phones them selves can run as expensive as $600 and are as fragile as an egg shell. Comparing the hype to the reality will reveal the intelligence in the usage of the unit. 

2. Computers make you delusional

From the beginning, computers have been associated with a magical quality. Their rapid rate of development and refinement have been stunning to say the least. How they have become integrated into mainstream life can be interpreted close to magical. But that's part of the illusion, or rather delusion. Half of what a computer does is convince the user they can't do the same tasks without a computer. Half of those tasks are mere data shuffling, similar to moving the boxes of forgotten stuff in your attic from one side to the other and you spend eight hours a day, every day doing it. Because you spend so much time on the computer at work and at home, you neglect your geo-physical social life. So you join and participate in various virtual worlds online, storing and cateloguing more data in your mental attic. You order online chinese take-out, buy your next car, and sell your old one, do your banking and bill paying, search for a mate and even entertain yourself with gambling. The computer gives you the illusion you have a real life. When the power goes out, your OS crashes, you lose all evidence of your time spent; it's only at that point you realize you've been delusional. 

3. Television makes you brain dead

Programing has been compressed to allow for more commercial time to be condenced into it's standard twenty minutes per hour of programing. Meaning the viewer thinks they have only watched twenty minutes of commercials when in technological reality, they've probably watched something like twenty five or thirty. Everything about television is compressed, programed by profit and is used to sell you something. First there were the water mark intrusions, then the logo/poster pop-ups, then the sound and animated pop-ups, all intended to distract you. The news is a carney barker audition, distracted by continually moving ticker tape scrolls and ambiguous morphing background colors. How did Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow ever deliver the news without such designed distractions? Two hundred plus channels do not develop a focused interest, too much instant stimulous develops attention deficite. Programing centering around amorality as entertainment, extreme violence, the disfunctionally absurd interpretation of reality and the constant bombardment of lies can only deaden the brain, desensitizing it to the mundane routines people develop just to be able to afford more cable premium channel neuron washing. 

4. Taking any drugs medical or recreational has reciprocal consequences. 

Everyone takes drugs, whether they actually need them or not. Today it's a well accepted fact of life. Legal, illegal, medicinal or recreational, everyone does drugs. Caffeine, Ginsing, aspirine, aspertame and sugar. Everyone self medicates and self regulates their drug of choice. Most of these drugs come with side effect information or anecdotal histories. For some reason, most people taking the drugs ignore these warnings. The ones that are aware of the side effect warnings deny their potential or long term hazards; choosing to rely on and believe in their physician's or drug dispenser's professional credibility. The reality is, slight or extreme, there are consequences, period. Your nose runs, you want to stop it so you take a drug that will stop the runny nose but at the risk of provoking an aneurism. The more severe the ailment, the more severe the drug cosequences. It's a fight fire with fire mentality, where the user doesn't even stand a 50/50 chance. Most people who use drugs habitually aren't around long enough for other people to realize the outcome of the consequences. Those that do, their life lesson is ignored by those around them. There are no panaceas. There is no "magic pill" administered by "Doctor Feelgood." Understand fully that choosing to participate in chemical drug use has both short term and long term reciprocal consequences, BEFORE you choose. 

5. Experience without learning is futility

Experience is man's most precious commodity. More precious than platinium or gold. Yet many times after experience is gained, many throw it away, never considering it's value. That's like buying gold bullion and then putting it back in the ground. It's amazing the people who parachute jump, have an accident and jump again. It's equally amazing people who surf, get bit by a shark, live and surf some more. All claiming it's what they love to do. So out of that love, the risk and endanger their lives over and over again. There's an old adage about never making the same mistake twice, but I guess it doesn't apply here. What are you learning by thrill seeking, adrinaline rush identity association?   If you don't learn from hard earned experience, then your existince is futile, which is the main motivation excuse you use for gaining experience in the first place. How about this: survive parachute accident, spend your activity time counseling on suicide hot lines. Survive a shark attack, study marine biology. If you don't learn, next time what doesn't kill ya, just might.  

I watched everything around me define and enliven as the subtle spectrum of dawn painted a virgin palette of color across the sky.  It was cold this morning, clouds of breath appeared steadily as I walked down the street.  Every part of my body felt the cold except my right hand, due to a warm bag of peanuts I had just bought from a vendor.

     The morning light was changing from smooth, cool mauve to a clear yellow, growing warm and good feeling.  You could actually see broad sheets of sunlight pour from between houses and tree trunks.  I broke open the brown bag of peanuts and the warm steam that rose up carried a salty aroma that invited fond childhood memories. Breaking open the shells and eating warm roasted peanuts is a great way to keep your mind off the cold.

 Slowly, slow-motion, exaggerated deliberation

          Flash-bulb blindness creating

Swimming colored images.

          The mind frequently pausing.......losing

          Focus to a corner of a blank wall.

No, no answer.  Busy signal. If you’d 

                                       Like to make a call......Please

Hang up,.......and

         Dial again.  Buttons and tones act random

         Melodies, random encounters, melodic mediocrity.

                                    Slows down - drags on to anoth e   r

Hour, in the medium of a day, re-awakening

At the middle of the dark, Pre-dawn.

         Pre-mature, ear plugging elevator rides

         Fantasy embrace, bodies merging

Kiss after kiss after............................TOP FLOOR

EVERYBODY OUT!

It’s the beginning of Fall.  The days are getting cooler, but not yet cold. The mornings are slightly gray and overcast; resembling sheets pulled high over head.  As they billow and then deflate, it creates a softly filtered, secret world, unique in that it lasts only a brief moment.  Under the cover of this cocoon, one escapes the early morning bracer. A hide-a-way of soothing indulgence. Now its darker, closer, the sheets have finally melted.  Time has once again come to a point of decision.

Blank pain

How quickly like a skipping record it becomes

Irritating

Pain relaxation, blank

White sound between stations

Inbetween

The body is only warm, the feeling

Not numbing

Enough...

Sleepless, 

Pinball tilt......

Stuck car horn

......Noise without sound

Vamp the sleep, segue tomorrow

Cower from flourescent dials.......

                 change the body, change the sheets

Tonight.....CHANGE......

Look and blink your eyes

The mind’s eye image is like 

Sky-writing, focused then 

Disipating into smokey haze

Settling to the outer reaches of

Mental atmosphere

Its a nightmare, trying to keep time 

Repeating an embarrassing interview over

And over before the love employment jury.

Running face to face with the last

Lover you’d ever want to meet, screaming your mistake

SHAKE your head.

IT’S A DAYDREAM.  KISSING SUMMER BARE,SWEAT DAMP SHOULDERS ABOVE 

A BACKLESS YELLOW DRESS, BELOW A WIDE BRIMMED HAT. 

FEELING RUSHED IN A MASERATI DOING THREE DIGITS ON A  

HOLIDAY HIGHWAY, EXPLORING THE EXOTIC WITH A STRANGER, 

NEVER KNOWING THE INCONCEIVABILITY OF THE MATCH 

ALL KNOWING WITH ADVENTUROUS SATISFACTION. 

GIVE IT A CHANCE!

It’s a bad dream, no answer rejections

Living unemployable lives while

Suffocating in emotional frustration, thinking only inevitable attitudes

Everyone chooses the wrong type in stereo

To awaken, you don’t need to PINCH yourself

Anxious fingers fumble with

The envelope of my heart

Inside, glowing beautifully is

The nickelodeon memory

Of someone’s love

Brake pedal riding down the freeway

Shirt back soaking

Eyes ricochetting bumper glare

Forearm doing a Riviera holiday

Looking at my gas gauge,

Constantly empty

Reminds me of my bank account

Reminds me of salt rubbed into wounds.

Battle scars exchanged for chump change.

My position just above illegal alien

A legal alien, promotion revoked,

Want ad soiled fingers,

Blurry newsprint classifieds. 

I drive down a quiet country road

Great tree branches canopy the lane

Harlequin patches of sunlight filter through

Creating a hypnotic lace over my pathway

As I pass under this strobe of light and dark

Sensations of warmth and coolness flicker over me

Each flashing pattern stirs a fleeting emotion

Each emotion a bridge to my memories of you

I like this road

I travel it everyday 

The chick bartender stayed out too late after work,

After hours.

Another bar.

A dive bar D.J. was “workin’” 

Spinning sides slicked up 

With greasy fingers, from eating “escort” pizza.

Saturday late night radio, visual 8 bar 

harmonic minor blues.

It's a neighborhood joint.

Neon blondes and Rocker chicks

Strutting in torn, tribal black leather.

Midgets and strippers ignoring the losers.

Obese “heavy” metal chicks, pierced crossovers

“where do they all come from…”

The Beatles died.

The gimp and the airhead, both handicapped,

Hangout at oppisite ends of the bar. 

Neither paying for notice of the other.

Another shot to clear the eyes

Another beer to pay the bouncer.

Another pick-up line ventriloquist. 

Its after hours, time to pay your dues.

Another game of lecherous stares 

carnal mutters prove no one cares.

Dancing to drunken oblivion wishes

The smoke, the lights, the noise

All the women fantasizing about their toys.

It’s the night before confession, the house beats get louder

The chick bartender stayed too late, He left too early.

It will all be waiting again, same place, same time, 

Same life.

A kiss is such an unfair tease.

So close, so intimate, so revealing.

A kiss emblazens what

The eyes have erotically provoked.

A kiss tempts passion, dares exploration,

Promises all sensations conceivably imagined.

A kiss is sweeter, richer, creamier than

The finest chocolate liqueur.

A kiss is stolen, crushed, ransomed

Rendered tender, hard, polite, ravenous.

A kiss will drain the mind of all worldly thought,

And open a universe of pure ecstactic pleasure .

A kiss is singularly unique to each lover,

The flavor, the heat, the lustful tension.

A kiss lingers seductively in memory,

Forever teasing.......never releasing.

Trying to see a little future like maybe a balance in my bank account next month. When is a good question, I don’t care how, except sooner rather than later.

 “Only the lonely” catchy little tune. Such distortion in the picture, should have gotten a better pair of rabbit ears. Just turn another direction and BINGO! B-I-N-G-O , B-I—Was that really his name? I'm guessing, but not very well. 

A rainbow will bestow a pot of gold and a bonus of 14kt filled Ginsu knives. No, of course not really, then again…. And again… and…Yeah, you can say that again. 

Or you can say many things and try to really say what it is you really feel because it might not get any clearer than one small puddle in the gutter, and then…its all yours and yours alone.

The pretty, pretty women

Have silent, cold souls

Have stay away smiles

Have eat and die eyes

Have graveyard scenic bodies

Have lipstick stained mirrors

Have the pretty, pretty, women.

Your name, age and employment record please.

Wanna Dance?

I don’t dance, I just like to watch.

Got a light?

Could I buy you a drink?

Do you live around here?

Do you come here often?

I'm just looking for my friends.

Are you here by yourself?

So, what else do you do for fun?

How about some fresh air?

Would you like to walk me to my car?

Can I kiss you good night?

Is this your real phone number?

Are you going to call?

How come going to bars is like 

Standing in line on a stockyard slaughter ramp?

Stop telling me these things.

I don’t believe it applies to me.

You just don’t understand,

This isn't an interview for a 

Loan Application.

Loan me your interest.

On loan?

I’d presently rather listen to top 40

Each beat really relates to the... 

What? Stress? Stop saying that.

It doesn’t apply, its never been

Any different. So what?

But lets not forget mediocre repitition.

The drone of commercials,

The sensationally unimportant.

Again and Again and...

So tell me again, tell me a

Story-tell me a vision-

Yeah, telivision. O.K. make it a 

VHS, a DVD. 

Make it another double.

Skip it, 

The bedtime story

It's too stressful and looks the way

Rancid movie-house popcorn tastes.

I don't believe what you're telling me.

You do.

So where does 

this all

Leave me standing?

Huh? Hit what mark?

The albino wore a stocking mask

Leaning on a stolen grocery cart

Reflecting his natural white glare off a payphone sign

Arguing with the dial tone, just filling in between space

Transparent all through the early morning night.

Another warm emotional thread broken,

Seperating the past from the present.

Thoughts hopscotching like burning feet

Across summer blistered asphalt 

laced with cool, blue tinged shade.

Abruptly ending like a depression broken,

A humid and stagnate heat wave mounts.

Dark thunder storms amass in front of invisible future horizons, 

Foreshadowing a sweet cool breeze that gently blows away  

Generations of settled dust in a hot Victorian attic.

Inspiring awe and hope as another thread is spun.

KICK-START LOVERS IN LUST

KICK

PRIME-TIME SOAP ATTITUDES

KISSING LIES

KICK START

TOUCHING ALABASTER

WATCHING MIRRORS

NEVER LOOKING BACK

KICK START LOVERS

NEVER LOOKING

JUST EXPERIMENTING,

JUST KILLING TIME

FEEDING SELFISH ADDICTIONS

KICK

KICK-START

KICK-START LOVERS IN LUST.