Artistic Footprint

No one can deny that the world is always in transition. The ominous prospect of death and destruction has been side by side with  man since the beginning of history. But perhaps this is the first time the Earth has been in transition in the modern world. Scientists and protection agencies will tell you that the polar frontiers are melting, that the ocean is acidic, that species are disappearing like they know something we don’t. Religious leaders would only suggest that this is not our doing but a divine plan to save mankind from the plight of this testing ground which is shockingly correct. Skeptics will tell you that this is whole thing is a load of bullshit – that people are being tipped off to sell you things, that the world is too huge for humans to tamper with it’s balance. All points in the spectrum are correct to a certain degree, and it’s all up to what you believe.

Here’s what I believe, and my bias comes from having remembered what the world looked and felt like when I was a kid compared to now. I don’t know if any of you remember this, but winters were cold and summers were hot and we learned to enjoy both. Going out and experiencing the power of the Earth was an adventure, and seeing how we could handle it was empowering. Nowadays we are removing ourselves from our natural surroundings with air conditioners, antibacterial soaps, synthetics, and sealed doors. I often hear people comment angrily on the weather as if it had to adhere to their comforts. I have seen snow-less winters and budding flowers on the shores of Lake Ontario in January. I have seen forest fires react to an unseen fuel type and been in summers that simply cannot be survived without some sort of invention. At the very least I have shown interest in the speeches and data from environmental scientists. Climate change, to me, is real.

An interesting perspective has begun to hinder the efforts of conservation. The largest concept of Skepticism says that we are being sold “green” things because “being green” is the new “being cool” – and most of these trinkets and inventions are not green at all, just scams and money-makers. They are totally correct. We buy new more fuel efficient cars and then send our old ones to rust in the scrapyard.  Perhaps they’ve seen the numbers and became so scared that they put on a pair of glasses that dummied the data so that they could sleep at night. I have three questions for skeptics: how do you sell the idea of buying less? Whats wrong with being environmentally conscious? And hasn’t this happened before?

Consider for example, the Great Plague of London. the “Black Death” took 100,000 lives. I perceive this as London, the capitol of an island; consider it a closed ecosystem invaded by a foreign vector. Humans died at a rate up to 7000 every week because the city was overcrowded, poorly equipped, and had no management between waste and produce. The city could not quarantine itself. I wasn’t until the great fire of London in 1666 was the plague considered gone. Afterwards London created something greater than time or steam locomotion – The sewage system.

So what do we do when we hit the fence? Our resources deplete at the same time our population is at record high. The plague happens. A deteriorating species becomes weak and vulnerable and bacteria takes over. We will never actually see the end of the world. Lets just assume that climate change can happen. What would the world be like? My darkest nightmares are a colourless sky that casts its grey on the scorched Earth stuck in the last days of autumn. The reassuring trickle of a stream or the chirp of a bird is long gone. Now remember the worst day you ever had. Maybe your dog died. And now imagine your dog dying and no one was there to give you a hug, you couldn’t go outside and be alone to think or smell the home she used to be in. You couldn’t talk about it to anyone because they’re all just as depressed as you are. That to me is the Earth without her beauty.

There is no end of time, that’s why they call it never. So at some point our species must end, because unfortunately death happens to everything and we shouldn’t want it any other way. What we do have control over is when. And we need to approach this perspective as a system. First is Awareness, which most of us already have. Then Acceptance. We cannot deny that we are no different than any other animal and when given the choice we will take more than we need. Now we Know what our problems are – and here’s the kicker, we have the advantage of a brain that is so powerful it takes half our energy to fuel it. We are smart enough to outsmart ourselves. Here’s what we have figured out: We have a lot of people and there’s still more to come. We cannot survive without the resources of Earth. We need to feed those people and find them homes and a “human” living….. How do we do that?

Action: We have genetically modified our foods, we have invented “free” energy through constant renewable sources, we have created a capitalist market based on being efficient. We have designed self-sustainable systems and technologies that exemplify human intuition. But more than anything, we need to redefine “being green” with just plain old “consuming less.” If we all just loved what we had and loved what we did, we’d have half as much junk. Don’t supersize, don’t drive where you can walk, don’t buy what you don’t need. Learn how things work and fix them yourself. Don’t buy into the gimmicks of being green when you don’t understand exactly how it is better for your environment. And most importantly, Appreciate. Appreciate what you have and know what it’d be like without it. Take a second to look beyond the windshield and skyline and actually see the surrounding nature. If we can do all these things, our pride and quality would skyrocket and maybe we’d get to stretch that timeline a little farther.

This, I suppose, is a continuation of the previous post: Passing Spaces

Perhaps I’m going out on a limb here, but I feel as though we as a civilization are crossing generations and seeing daily revolutions. We can all agree that each life is more exciting and action-packed than the last, yes? Boredom seems to be most infectious plague our minds can contract, symptoms include but are not limited to a lack of productivity, and a total loss in opportunity. I have found that in order to survive in a world driven by constant risk, effort, and sleepless hours, I, like many have begun to experience the exhaustion of human limitations. I don’t generalize myself as a lazy person, and at worst I at least see the turmoils of the rat race on those close to me. Conversely, I have the rare opportunity to experience vapidness, silence, and slowness. More than the appreciation of these moments and their serenity, I have realized how foreign they are, and how the smells of an empty beach or misty trail spark long-forgotten memories of how things used to be. Now it seems that every second your mind spares for relaxation is a second lost in the competition for pride, success, and power, as though we punish ourselves for the human right to appreciation. To revel in our successes is to have the time to experience their rewards. Where in your life does this time exist? Is it yearly on holiday? monthly? weekly? Why is it not Daily? Why do we go exhausted at night to dream of budgets and problems when we should have taken the time to thank ourselves and our friends for the hours of daylight we had in order to live our lives for ourselves and for them? Who do we live for when we put on the uniform every morning? Is it for you? is it for your family? is it for your vacation or your retirement? Is it for the good of your country and government? Most importantly – why do we not ask this question every morning? Why do we not verify the callouses, dry eyes, and repetitive strains to ensure they head us the direction we intend?

To survive in a world today is to be inhuman. If humans are defined by what happens at the edge of our fingertips with the strength of our mind then the world today has changed us. Perhaps we are substituting our shortfalls with processors which by definition have slowly evolved to do our work for us and separate us from the people we were after the mechanical world became obsolete. Do we rewrite the books on what makes humans human? is that inherent in us with our natural magnetism to creativity?

We are at the cusp of artificial change as an urban species. Although I’m not against this, All I am asking is that we remain human.

Are we lost an apprehensive life of politeness? Every time I return to the city I am overwhelmed with the manners in which we treat our fellow neighbors, so undisturbed this observation, I feel like I’ve been cured of an unsettling daily regimen and barely show a part in its quiet austerity. Everywhere you go now, people have divulged themselves in a pocket-sized world. We literally have grown our own limbs that can reach vast distances and compute in stellar proportions to ease the rat race. They can pop into our ears and shut off the world, excusing ourselves from strangers. They allow us to be selective in our conversations and friends. Sitting on the bus I feel awkward without my headphones on. I watch as a guy enters the bus, his eyes darting to find an open spot. It’s interesting to watch where he goes because it seems the intent is to locate the largest distance between people. He finds a seat and sits, but doesn’t take the entire seat entitled to him. The girl next twists left to look away. On the way back to me, my eyes catch another wandering pair across from me, but for no moment at all and I’m once again staring into my lap, waiting for my stop.

Why are we so afraid of each other? Why do we assume that everyone needs a personal bubble? Why is a quiet “sorry” the first word to be sheepishly uttered from my mouth should I happen to be in someone’s path? I believe we have all created our own definition for the crowd of strangers we see every day: “not me.” A face has become the cover of a book to be glanced at and quickly forgotten. It seems even that flustering flatulence has become more of an embarrassment for the silent witnessing crowd than for the one that dealt-it. In the good ol’ days this was the perfect opportunity to laugh at life and carry on with a good story to tell our friends about “that guy who ranked the bus out.” Now we’ve become ashamed on their behalf. Even too nervous to ask for help when autonomous services confuse us, nor be the person to speak up and give advice because we’re too scared to be noticed.

We have taken our doses in our new digital era in portions so obscene that we don’t know what will happen to our natural lives. I think the scariest part about relying on computers is our loss of the analogue world, the world where gears turn and real things tick. A tangible universe filled with the wonders of real life. Exposure to an appreciable hardship that made things worthwhile, a tangible experience in the texture and durability of our daily use, and the trust in their design because a real person is in control or had put it together. A person you could trust, and shoot the shit with on your beautifully noisy commute, where people are responsible for themselves and had a direct voice in the passing spaces.

This is continued in the post: The Transition

Relativity.

Einstein’s two theories on relativity are combined to relate space and time, a strangely philosophical scientific theory. My idea of relativity is more of human and less of science, but has little to do with Einstein. “Life is relative” Regardless of our genetic similarities, every human has a totally unique mind, and from birth developes a spacial, relatable concept of the world using their five known senses. This amounts to things larger than grouped ideas about theology, nationalism, or political or economic systems. Have you ever thought that what you see as the pigment of blue might be a completely different pigment to someone else? for example, a pink and blue maple tree. But they’ve had those pigment differences since birth, and those arrangements look natural. The same must apply for time, culture, values both numerically and morally, and spacial sense.

Time: To many, we don’t have enough of it. Life is too short and we must make each second worthwhile. To some, life is too long. Things aren’t working out and we’d just like the pain to end. Some have abolished the invention of time as a whole and live their lives freely. Some categorize the history of mankind as one generation, another perhaps dates as far back as the industrial revolution or medieval times. Others see history as time from the very beginning to now, and occasionally have the mental capability to make it relative and answer the “how did this happen?” with stunning perspective.

Value: What makes us valuable? How do we make our lives valuable? We’ve numerically calculated value with GDP and dollars, but this is merely an invention, and really has nothing to do with value. A teddy bear can be more valuable than the home it sits in, yet the dollar value and time spent obtaining such commodities is incomparible. True, inherent values are those which make time better used to add value to our lives. And of course, those values to one person may be the dollars and the salaries. To others its the fine wines and ballet concerts. To some it’s the notches on their belts and the lives in their grasps. Perhaps the size of a family and large home-cooked meals, or a collection of photos from countless adventures. To many, it’s the closeness of death that adds value.

Time with little value is wasted time – a long time
Time with much value is used time – a short time.

With added value, time decreases. “time flies when you’re having fun”

Spacial sense: No number exists without a value. You don’t just have the number three or 30. You have three apples or 30km. And again those numerical values mean nothing if you haven’t experienced them. You don’t know what 3 apples looks like in comparison to one, just like you don’t know how far 30km is, let alone travelled that distance. What you would describe as a “long distance” say, across town, would be a small increment of another’s concept of distance, because they are used to longer travels, say – across a country. But even then, that is infinitely small in comparison to an astronomer’s concept of distance, measured in light years. Could you relate to a light year? Can you look at two stars through a telescope and say: “oh yea that one’s about 3 light years, and the other one is about 70.” Even if you could, does it make sense in your mind? This is the reason why we don’t understand what some people are talking about. It literally is a different language between minds, regardless of the international concept of numbers. Everything you sense, be it speed, distance, brightness, loudness, texture, palatteability, good and evil, is relative to your mind, and coincidentally is relatable to your species. Specifically those that think the same way you do. It is the same reason why a picasso is a work of genius to one group of people vs. a hideous combination of colour and shape to others. Because their minds do not agree.

In retrospect, ticking clocks, dollar signs, and numerical values are a true language invented by us, and used to relate to one another, but are organized too simply by us to be universal, and unaccomodating to the individual.

We are not giving ourselves enough credit. We have grimly defined ourselves as gluttonous evil and doomed creatures ill-fitted to survive on this undeserved planet.

Every species tempts fate by becoming too successful. The pasture fence is reached and extinction is imminent.

Humans are the only species with special talent that has predicted their own demise. And not only that, were making changes to prevent it. Never before have people decided to ride a bicycle or say no to a plastic bag or buy sustainable, local products. I have understood the term “pride” in my own words: you can be proud of the hoardes of inexpensive, use-once and store products, and am beginning to understand that less is more. Purchasing sustainable, locally-produced, rare, high quality products are harder to afford, but they come with an increased level of purchaser’s pride. I can feel the different I am making, and learn to appreciate the things that make my life comfortable. For the final push, we need to acknowledge our shortfalls and eradicate them. Replace greed and entitlement with fairness and community  – ignorance with awareness and understanding- automation and blind obedience with appreciation and opinion.

Secondly, we need to stop beating ourselves up for the things we’ve done and start thanking each other for the monumental achievements we’ve made in the fight against climate change and resource depletion. We haven’t even seen what good repercussions will come out of changes like the invention of computuerized combustion nor hybrid technology nor electronic information or even wind generation.

Every morning I wake up fearing the end of my unfinished life because we single-handedly shat where we ate, and yes it seems now that we are destined for demise but I urge us all to realise that this is not an option. Survival is the only card left and shame on you if you give up. Because we are living in such an interesting time! We could verywell be the generation that sees the tipping point of civilisation. To survive or to perish. We will see the old-fashioned, traditionally-viewed babyboomers to their graves along with their politicians, taking their lifestyle of greed, power, and one-way or the highway mindsets with them. We will see the end of the oil age, We will see governments actually being held accountable because we understand and care about the decisions being made. We will see complete strangers come together to save themselves. We are the green generation.

http://www.ted.com/talks/nic_marks_the_happy_planet_index.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/johan_rockstrom_let_the_environment_guide_our_development.html

This is a continuation of the Unknown series: The Unknown 2 and the Unkown 1

Most westerners think religion is separate and a small entity in their lives, but fail to notice how it encompasses everything. Theocracies, nightly prayer, Church donations, door-to-door witnesses, religious war, priestly sin. – all in the name of pleasing an unproven diety with confusing instructions, to cure our fear of death. Nations have fought endless wars over who goes where when they die, and over who disgraced another’s holy land, Never knowing as fact that it was holy in the first place. Grow the fuck up I say, stop being so immature! I hold humans to a higher intellectual standard.

Why do people seek to question another’s beleifs? Is it because of age-old vengeance? Or to “save” an individual from a mortal plight? Is it to secure their own endless bliss in a fabled heaven? Why can’t people keep their own concepts of spirituality to themselves? Why can’t my definition of life after death be different from yours without you hating me? This is abhorrent discrimination at the roots of our largest, most deluded, most historic human shortfall – And all because we’re so caught up in our fear of what we do not know – Death. We would not care about our gods and our devils and our prayers and our preachings if our memory wasn’t at the hands of one divine creature.

My vision of a creator is ourselves. We created the idea of god and heaven because we were ghost-white in fear of our demise. I’ve felt that fear just like you. When I closed my eyes at night I wondered if I would wake up, and had nightmares about how I would handle my death tomorrow. But finally, I have acknowledged and understood my fear. I’m looking it in the eyes now. Death to me is a question, the same way I don’t know what it will be like to get married or have children, what my country will look like in 10 years. It is the same question as why do the stars come out at night. My brain works on evidence, research, and instinct. I am just as scared of death as I am excited to have it answered.

Do you think Neil Armstrong knew what was going to happen when he rocketed into space to put his footprint on the moon? I invite you to burn the operator’s manual to your conscience and let it run free. Why limit yourself by anything? Why do you govern yourself with such petty rules? Why do you not trust yourself to be naturally moral? Why are you afraid of death? There’s no telling what you can do when you eradicate these fears.

To overcome the fear of death is to understand that life can exceed structural, material values and enter the supernatural. An incomprehensible dimension that begs natural questioning.

I think that no life should be incomplete, anything less is a tragedy. Everyone should have someone they can’t live without. Everyone should have kids to leave the world better in their absence. Everyone should love what they do. Everyone should be able to create their own way of life. Everyone should embrace their natural curiosity, to satisfy it and let it flourish. Everyone should have the opportunity to be remembered for eternity. Whether they succeed or not is up to them. I will know that my life is complete when the material evidence of it is destroyed. Comfort in my ultimate fear.

Grabbed a 4 day weekend and busted it up to Smithers, Terrace, and Prince Rupert. Here’s the damage:

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This is a continuation of my first page on the topic: The Unknown One

Spirituality is a label for the unknown. It is faith to some, and a hypothesis to others. The unknown always exists; we just haven’t found it yet. Organized religion is a cure for the unknown. This may seem trivial in just one sentence, but consider all the difference that it means. Fate, divinity, entitlement, and personal conscience are polar opposites, and completely different lives are lived. This is not a subject concerning my usual distaste for organized religion, but more of my take on the underlying need for religion. That “hole” that is felt in the absence of god.

Divinity: You begin as a miracle and you are thankful for the life you’ve been in-debted. Immediately you are told the story of where you came from and where you are going. But your entire life is being watched by a divine judge. You understand that you were born a sinner, so you worship, pray, and confess to the almighty so that he will grant you divinity and a place in bliss.

I was born because of a very divine set of circumstances, the timeless chance from when a collection of elements wiggled under their own power, until life began in my mother. Amazing feats accomplished are testament to the desire of life to just be. My life is divine. My home is divine, and I am thankful for the luck to be here. Earth is my bliss, and I hope that one day we will make contact with another lucky planet in the abyss of space.

Altruism: Acts of kindness are reciprocated with more valuable things. The mentality that you are given awards for your deeds can quickly turn into the obvious loophole. Commit an act of goodwill not because of the altruistic nature of the act but for the tasty award afterwards, like a dog begging for a treat.

Faithless people are completely capable of living wholesome, good lives because they understand the repercussions of a good deed. They see the results and as a team of strangers helping each other, they are rewarded by being part of that team that progresses. It’s called human morality.

Entitlement: God has given us the Earth to do with it what we will, and in time Armageddon will come and those worthy will have earned their right to enter heaven. Well your prophecy is right; Armageddon is on its way. It’s called climate change, and it has nothing to do with the decision of a false divinity. Divinity wouldn’t subject such calamitous destruction, only human greed, false sense of entitlement, and lack of appreciation will.

I am at the mercy of Mother Earth. She is untameable and strong willed, and regardless of our impacts, She comes with a reset button. I can be anywhere in the wild and see through unfiltered lenses her beauty, strength, and fragility. Appreciation is not just a kind whisper of thanks for each breath, but to act accordingly to ensure more fills my lungs.

Fate: The idea that we are not in control of our lives has, in my opinion, only startled creationists and made them fear. Firstly, this is a symptom of a lack of trust in their divine chess-player, and secondly, has given the opportunity to invent the concept of “free will” This is a monumental step forwards towards being able to figure things out for yourself, but still carries the taint of a limiting set of rules. god may have a plan for you, but your plan isn’t working. I see a species of humans with 5 senses, and we adore being curious with them. Testing, inventing, and questioning. Organized religion kills this curiosity with its answer to all the things unknown, in an effort to cure our fear of them.

Self Conscious: We are in an amazing time. Unprecedented scientific advances are being made, and I mean that in the sense of: Humans, for the first time ever, are becoming able to make the world around them relative… something to understand. The concepts of ghosts, the supernatural, and the unknown are being questioned. Before we had the means of questioning, we were amazed by the things we could not explain – things as simple as dreams, mirages, and illusions were called magic and miracles. But now our brains have wrapped around them and turned them into fact open for debate should new evidence be found. Self-awareness is a trait experienced by few species. Self-consciousness is only just now being tapped by our species, held back only by pre-defined explanations to curb our fear of the unknown. We have spilled blood sweat and tears for the right to think for ourselves. Whether you are religious or not, at least have the decency to experience curiosity. Never ever take a manuscript or preaching as verbatim.

Atheists are feared. We are seen as people with no direction, no concept of right and wrong, no motivation, and people who have chosen their own doom. I am appalled by the lack of credit we give ourselves. To label someone as imperfect in comparison to an imagined definition of perfectness not only shatters confidence, but is simply a cop-out. We cause destruction and then hide behind the saying “I am only human.” I believe that we should embrace our imperfections as an opportunity to change, to hold ourselves accountable and save ourselves from the concessions made by the false definition of perfect.

The unknown exists, perfect does not.

This is continued in The Unknown 3

The Unknown.

I had a moment the other day where I snapped to a realization of what the faithless feel. The prospect of having no way out but down, 6 feet under. No heaven, no hell. All your hard work and all the good things you wanted to see… you’d never be able to because your memory does not live on. All those fairy tale stories you’ve been told since you were a child and your dog died, to diminish your fear of death. It hit me hard that death is now… the ultimate fear.

And then I envied the faithful. I envied their plan and their assertive direction, regardless of how shockingly self-centered it is. I thought: “I wish I had a plan.” And it truly does show in how I live my life. I’m living the compromise of good and evil, I do what I have to to get by. I treat life like a rollercoaster and only look back when I can spare the time.

I questioned the consensus that religion was morality and wondered – am I capable of that too? Morality… See they don’t believe Atheists have it. I also wondered… was I born with the ability to live my life or am I a sheep in a yard and every move I make was never mine? It is the perfect question. The Meaning of Life. How could we possibly know? Can we ask someone who was resuscitated from certain death?

How is it even possible that we are moral people if we ate the forbidden fruit in the first place? We were born sinful and inadequate to live in heaven, lest we live “for good.” The concept of being a good person so that you may flourish in heaven is nothing short of a selfish paradox. Why not be a good person to benefit your fellow neighbours as opposed to your selfish hopes for endless happiness in heaven? Who is this person to say that they are the supreme being and all must be as divine as him in order to enter? My question is: Why is Here not good enough? Is it because you had to pay your taxes? Is it because you had to – god forbid – move your own lungs to obtain oxygen? Why is it that I shudder in blasphemic fear as I re-read those words because I shamefully defaced the holy one? Is he sitting in his cloud red-faced with jealousy because one of his children questioned his existence? If I were his child, would I not have the right? From a moral standpoint, I think so.

I am more than happy to be the next guy to say “I don’t know,” because that is what I preach. The unknown is the typical thing that makes people scared. Are there aliens in space? Its dark and I can’t see, so my heart races. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me if I die. But our ability to overcome the unknown is what has made humans so amazing, except when we question our lives.

The Bible and Qur’an are ancient scripts, whereabouts unknown but deemed not from earth. I think these are interesting specimens that can be explained given the time that they were written. Consider yourself in a world thousands of years ago. The sun, moon, and stars orbit our flat Earth. Questioning these facts is punishable, known well in Galileo’s experience, by either death or allegiance. Traders from afar would tell their salt-sprayed stories of travels to distant lands, trading with natives of different cultures and races that are treated as alien species much like if we today found Martians. They would tell you that the oceans were ruled by sea monsters and that falling off the edge of the planet was a legitimate navigable hazard. These stories are simple in reality, but spectacular in nature, just like the story of god and his week of labour.

Many things had yet to be discovered. Physics defined matter as gravity and gave size and shape to the Earth in colossal yet relative numeric value. Chemistry found the abundance of energy we exploite daily, described the atom, and predicted reactions. Biology redefined how we treat diseases, how we are related genetically to other species, and came up with the descent of man so evident in species like the Capuchin monkey to extrapolate, the Landlubber Fish.

When the churches and Mosques realized that they could not curb the injustice of questioning god, they adjusted their teachings to cope with the footnoted conclusions of research, hidden behind the phrase “god is more than we can comprehend” as if any answer we provide simply is not compatible, or in a different language. Anything that was unknown was given a “god stamp.” If we don’t understand it, we fear it. We needed to cure this fear by saying “its god’s will” or “god gave us free will” – amidst his plan? I arrogantly see this as ignorant laziness, and a weak stomach; the incuriosity for things yet to be understood. It’s the same drive that sent a man to the Moon, and another to the ocean floor. The uniqueness of humans to seek out the unknown and define it to me is… romantic. Yes I do fear death. All of us should. But I do not fear the drive to stay alive, nor the curiosity of our environment and what makes it tick.

Perhaps I generalize religion. The over-used word lacking a synonym, a box filled with like-minded thoughts. But allow me to drive the train further into the ground. I think of a religion as something more like a superstition. The urge to hold your breath when you drive past a cemetery, or to throw salt over your left shoulder should you spill it. These all solve one problem and lead to one destination. There is a fear that has consequences. But I say… question it, and in doing so we will discover amazing answers.

I believe that we are all out there in an endless pursuit of truth. Do I want us to find it? No. I enjoy thinking about it too much. There must always be something to discover. Say Heaven is the answer to life, yet so conveniently improvable and naturally designed to cure fear… and we all accepted this as so, then why bother with the residual curiosity of our minds? Our only ties to god are an ancient (yet mysteriously revised) script, delusionary dreams and our own conscious mistaken with a deeper voice.

I challenge you to see the world through evolved eyes. Being faithless teaches you impeccable skill in appreciation and responsibility. Earth is your only chance, you are rewarded or punished for your deeds the moment they’re discovered, not after your judgement day. Your memory lives on with the people you interact with directly, not on some headstone. What I’m saying is that you can see the world in reality, not through the lens of ownership, but the nod of approval of two co-existing members of life.

The only anomaly between us and the rest of the living world is that we dominate Earth, whereas the hunted, the hunters, the plants, the animals, the fish and the birds – all live perfectly together and have so since the first bacterium. There are those who arrogantly believe that because we are so intelligent, creative, destructive, and advanced, no other being could be designed so perfectly for this earth. I just see a bunch of monkeys with expensive toys. Relinquishing faith and superstition has given me the ability to live like an animal, to appreciate what allows me to live, and be able to one day thank life by dying here on earth.

This is continued over more beers and saving the world in the kitchen Here

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2kqp7X/bardcan.wordpress.com/

A couple days out of the bush and this is what happens. Vancouver (as always) was soaked and gloomy, but just made it feel more like home. Having never seen the city in the summer, I was new to the greens and activities.  Each day was full of mountain biking, kayaking, camping, good friends, beaches, and beers…

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