Rain

If you know anything about me, you most likely know that I adore the rain. It really trancends mere affection: I am an entirely different person when it is raining outside. Something about the wholesome presence of rain inspires and elevates my thoughts to a realness that I crave when the boring sun is the only thing around. Perhaps it's the symbollic association with rebirth. Maybe it's the remembered peace of rain pattering on the windows of my childhood. Whatever it is, I maintain that you have not known me until you have seen me in the rain.

Along these lines, I wrote a poem about rain. Isn't that what poets do? Write about stuff they love? That's what they tell me, anyways. Enjoy!

Sinking Deeper

I’m sinking deeper now,
Carried by silvery gray clouds,
I’m sinking deeper now,
Surrounded by the pattering peace of short-lived
Heaven-borne freedom.
I’m sinking deeper now,
Dragged down by droplets of life chaos,
And I’m sinking deeper,
Like I was in mud,
Churned long by uncertain feet,
But now,
Now very still;
A man reformed in these droplets,
Reborn in this torrent of change-
I’m sinking deeper into the sky,
Lured by the singing rain,
Singing my name,
I melt.
Sinking, soaking, soaked-
Till I am the rain,
Wetfreehappyuntamed,
So with an excuse me,
And a sigh,
I loose the final handhold,
And sink deeper into the rain’s embrace.

Quoth the Raven

Ma·te·ri·al·ism (muh-teer-ee-uh-liz-uh m)- The preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, comforts, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.

That's right, materialism. Recently I've started studying the publication One Common Faith, which deals in no small part with the subject of materialism and it's diverse affects on our world today. Essentially, as the commentary notes, materialism has become the dominant religion of the modern world. Social Darwinism, communism, even social and economic development - all have their ideological roots deep in materialism. It spans both the good and the bad, both the laudable and the atrocious, and has penetrated down to nearly every level of western culture

But OK, traditional rant against materialism concluded, what really is it? It's all well and good to say the world is suffering from materialism, but that's just like saying that someone is sick without being able to articulate why. In it's most basic form, it is the sincere belief that through present means humankind can solve nearly any problem; it is the belief that while the inherited moral structures of the past may have been provided by such things as religion, modern morality has reached a level where it no longer needs to be expounded on, only enacted. It is, basically, the belief that through sincere action, we can realize the golden age of humankind. Which means it is, even more basically, naiveness at it's most extreme.

You see, we can say things like this nowadays, because the world has experienced nearly one-hundred revolutions around the sun with materialistic values as the core of popular belief, and rather than exemplifying the promised golden age, the world seems more than ever on the brink of total chaos. Even the well-minded aspects of materialism have eventually collapsed under their own weight. Take social and economic development projects, an item I listed earlier that may have seemed out of place. Clearly, this is a well-intended concept, and has produced some admirable changes and advancements. But taken as a whole, what can we really say about it? If the entire point of a social and economic development project is to advance needfull cultures to a level of accepted advancement and comfort, then where can we really point to as a symbol of actual success?

The extremes of poverty and wealth are greater than ever, and the suffering of "third-world" countries has never been more noteworthy. It is not that current human actions are ineffective, it's that they are misguided; it is not that a social and economic development project is unsuccessful, it's that it misses the point entirely. Humanity does not just thirst for a new car, it does not just hunger for material advancement. It does not only want world peace and only desire an end to world hunger. We, it, them, everyone - all truly thirst for a spiritual reality that gracefully allows for all of the above and infinitely more.

So you see, materialism isn't even evil. The world will always function by material concerns, as we dwell in a world made of matter. The real evil is the narrow-mindedness that materialism represents - the denial that while our everyday life is material, our thoughts, beliefs, and values exist in a higher state. What we need is a belief system that delineates in clear terms how and why we should act rather than just halts at the action itself, that intertwines material advancement with moral application, and allows progressive understanding so that we do not become stuck on only one aspect of what is a multifaceted existence. What we need, in short, is:

re·li·gion
[ri-lij-uhn]

Manifesto

Pursuant to the aim of unity among my fellow man, and complimentary to the process of life itself, I must establish unity within myself. Unification of action, thought, belief, function - realization that ultimately what I know is what I am, what I am is what I do, and what I do is all the word will ever see.

Unity among my fellow man, a lofty goal. One that, before ever conceivably reaching completion, necessitates a complete Renaissance in global thought and action. And history, that great keeper of secrets, has shown us that Renaissances always begin at the most basic, grassroots level: the individual. All it takes is one man, woman, or child for a new era to begin, because the only thing standing between us and truth is our ability to perceive it. If something is perceivable, it can be potentially understood; if it can be understood it can be implemented, and if it can implemented then it can truly affect the world around us.

This is how I see unity. It is only as lofty as the next man to question prejudice, the next mother to whisper of peace in her child's ear, or the next scientific breakthrough to change our world. What, after all, is change if not an adaptive, reactive process that results from the demands of each new moment? Therefore I consider it my duty, sworn and sealed obligation to increasingly demand more of this moment than I did of the previous; to question more of my answers than there were formerly answers to question. I am not going to change the world; I am going to lay siege to it. I am going to bombard it with boulders of love, unity, and progressive with such intensity and duration that there will be no choice but to rebuild, as there will be nothing of the old world left.

Nothing, that is, except the many boulders conveniently on hand to begin construction of something new.

You know that feeling?

Where the walls loom above you, blue and grim, maniacally laughing as the furniture dances in hypnotic circles around your head?

Yeah. Me neither.

School starts soon, and I already feel its powerful, gravatational influence arranging my other activities into neatly obediant elliptical paths. It's like the alpha male of the gorilla tribe of my life has just returned after a month's vacation, and has busied himself with reetablishing his position of dominance. Calmly, he put the young buck who stood in during his absence back into his place, reassured the dominant female that yes, indeed, he does possess the most impressive "stuffs" out there, and re-marked his domain with some judicious, concise use of fecal matter.

Anyways, I'm about to become a full-time student for reals, which is something i've honestly never done. In the past i've either never tried when I supposedly was a full-time student (highschool) or i've taken a limited number of classes when trying (college). In both scenerios, I haven't felt challenged, and so this semester i'm pushing the envelope to it's full, crinkly limit! We're talking 18 credit hours people - 5 classes, two with labs!

If I don't survive, I hereby authorize a lock of my hair to be given to each of my loyal readers.

Robbie reserves the sole right to define what a "loyal reader" is, spontaneously and nonsensically if need be.

The Prank

Imagine you are at a party. It is a fun party, replete with those whose company you enjoy. Somewhere along the line, you find yourself near the door and hear someone knocking. Being a socially conscientious human, you offer to let the person in on behalf of your gracious host, who stands halfway across the room. You open it with a smile - one that quickly falters when confronted with a middle-aged woman whom you've never met, standing there wearing a shirt that distinctly has your face, large as you please and in stencil form, right in the middle of it.

Now substitute any and all "you" and "your" with "me" and "mine," and then appreciate that this very thing happened to me the other night. Yes, I know. My face! On a shirt worn by a woman I've never seen before! So what did I do when I opened the door and saw this strange, unexpected occurrence? Did I talk to the woman, wring her for information, find out then and there the identity of the real culprits behind this prank? No, of course not! I let out a small, startled noise (some would say a "yell of fright") and fled across the room, burying my head in the couch. In short, my ostrich instinct kicked in and it became a matter of survival.

But how could this be? Well, as it turns out, she was Jamie's (the hosts) neighbor. Also as it turns out, the stenciled picture of my face was drawn by one Andrew Johnson, although even he is baffled as to how it made it's way into Jamie and his conspirators' hands, and how that consequently made it's way onto a shirt.

I tip my hat to the aforementioned conspirators. Clearly, I did not expect a shirt with my face on it. I don't think many people do expect their face to appear on shirts. In fact, I feel pretty comfortable assuming that anyone who expects pictures of his/her face on shirts whent hey go places might be in need of professional help. Or an official clothing line. Either one.

Edit - Here is the picture that so noteworthily decorated the t-shirt:

The Return

Ladies and gentlemen: it is with great pleasure that I bring to you Freestyle Blogging - the reincarnated second edition of Dangerboy's Blog. Come weary traveler, venture into these depths if you dare!

Stand stupified as profound prose pelts you with such rapidity that you might come to believe you've been sentence to death by pillory as in the old'en days. Watch helpless as bloated metaphors trump up and down lines and margins as if they were a heretofore hibernating and hungry Godzilla, and the lines in question were the very avenues and streets of Tokyo City (In this metaphor about metaphors, you, the reader, would be one of the thousands of screaming Japanese citizenry forever doomed to run from Godzilla while wearing 80's short-shorts).

But above all else enjoy yourself. Leave comments as you see fit, and sit back and enjoy the unique specticle of a man constantly hovering on the brink of nonsensical rantings.

We're back ladies and gents!