Waiting for it to hit

Here's the thing that's been percolating. Parts of it.

The darkside of light-chasers.

The yin and yang. It's, I think, simplistic to resort to binary sorting measures for most "real" things. But...binary is so fucking helpful!

Assignment\Alignment

When there is doubt, there is no doubt

and suchlike.

Self\Other
Internal\External
Good\Evil

It's not, at all, that these things don't exist, and often things will exist in a paired state, how can they not? Flip your slider bars the other way and.....there you go.

Inversion is easy.

So...in people what have we got if not this same dynamic?

I think that it's (stupidly) much like The Force. Dark side, Light side. There's that binary again.

It's easier to kill than to heal. It's easier to rape and take what you want by force. And it's hard to argue with results.
"More powerful? No. Quicker? Yes. Easier."

But this is...what, our Chimp nature instead of our Bonobo nature?

Most of life is an attempt to justify what you want, or rather it's a series of attempts to rationalize you doing those things.
This applies to the subject of murder. "They" are not "us". "They" threaten "our" way of life. "They" must be destroyed.

Not worked with, not healed, not anything except that false (IMO) binary of murder.
Often mercy comes from a place of strength. Steve Perry has a Ghandi quote I like, "better violence than cowardice" (paraphrased).

So then, why not be strong so that you don't have to use it? Be strong so that you can be merciful. Is this against the rape-ape nature of humankind? Survival is a brutal game, the weak are "Eliminated" and don't get to play any more.

Strike first to win. The person who is willing (and able) to take things that extra step farther faster is likely to win. The first person to resort to murder is likely to be the one left standing at the end of things.

There is a power to murder. I should stop to clarify that when *I* say murder what I mean is the taking of another human life. I do not like to sanitize this. Self-defense. Righteous Kill. Justifiable force. War. Whatever. It's murder. I don't of course mean this to in some way make it out that those who've done so are "bad guys". Again, it's just murder, it is what it is and I don't, personally, like to dress it up in soft language. There is a power to murder. People will fear you. You can resolve problems simply and easily...and absolutely. You can use the threat of your murder power to gain compliance.

This is the dark side. Murder is easy. Humans are fragile and there are so so many wonderful weapons out there. Strangle a person with a mouse cord. Gouge their eye out with a credit card. Fuck, just beat them to fucking death with your X-box or your HDTV. If the intent is there....

So. The only general paradox we (meaning I) find is that of course if another person is willing to use the murder power on you...you must be strong enough to be merciful when you defeat them. But...you still have to know how to, and be able to, defeat them. Which requires....that same murder power. IMVHO and totally unexperienced opinion. (I like it that way btw)

But that's the Light Side\Dark Side thing innit? You can gain the power of murder by using it. Or you can gain the power of murder by learning to access it and then not using it. One is easier. That base darkness in the human nature. Rape. Murder. Steal. Fuck those assholes! I do what I WANT!

Denial of a thing in the face of lacking that capability is weak and meaningless. If I'm a pacifist because I can't fight then, sorry, but it doesn't mean anything. Denial of an option as a choice. I think this is stronger and more better.

So. That's part of it. The essential human choice. It's easy to get what you want. But...does what you want really matter? Isn't the restraint of that impulse the noble thing? Isn't that the powerful thing?

It's easy to opt for Dark Side. Faster. Easier.
It's harder to chose life, restraint, and such. Honor.

It's the investment in that restraint that makes us noble I guess. Tho of course "noble" might just mean "royalty" and then...it's, historically, basic the opposite of the general contextual usage of the word.

It's easy to justify all of this stuff. The Bible. The Qu'uran. Yellowcake uranium. But it's a false polarization. The man who has, or sees, only two options, is just binding himself to blindness (insert s\he, pronoun of preference, qualifier) and restricting things, falsely to that binary. When you can submit or fight. Lame. What about going lateral? Outside of the box? This is the sign, I think, of control and power. Having options, creating options for others, allowing options to be exercised.

And if they are unreasonable? That's what you've acquired and refined this war knowledge, this murder power, for.

NOT so that you can use it. So that you can not use it. So that you are aware of it's existence. Face your fear.

I'm naked and fearless....and my fear is NAAAAAKED!

This is the Light Side path to power. Unrelenting, unwavering staring in to the place of darkness. And then...restraint. Not denial of the possibility but denial of the false binary choice.

It's such an easy little mindset to slip in to. If you are good at violence why not use it to get what you want? Because that would be weak and easy. Hard things are worth doing because they are hard. And denial is hard. It's of course easy to deny that which you reject or blind your self to. Which, for most people, I think, when I'm feeling judgmental and superior, is critical thinking. Examine your illusions. Examine your assumptions. Why? Just to see what happens.

It's easier to learn that to teach. Teaching is hard. You have to not just be able to do the thing but also be able to explain it. How it works. This is deeper. This is more noble. To teach others, to share what you have realized. I think.

And it's the same for the rest of it as well. Murder. To know it, learn it's ways, and teach them to others, but not to exercise it. If you don't know, if you reject, then you've just given up. Failure basically. How is that useful? "Math is stupid" "Martial arts are for violent people and the insecure"

A saying (it's mine AFAIK, or at least independently conceived) I like is: No judgment without knowledge.

This can be rephrased as "walking a mile in somebody else's shoes".

The "mercy" of the weak. What is it worth? I let you live because I cannot (not "am unwilling" but "am incapable")kill you. I let you return to me after cheating on me because I am unable to reject your love. Meaningless.

The Dark Side is easier, it is faster, but it is not more powerful. Each day we all get to make that choice. In so many small ways. So many big ones. Often we are constrained by the invisible bounds of our upbringing and culture. The mental force walls of those around us. "Permission" and yet....does this mean we should not examine them? Does it mean we should not delve in to our options to fucking kill people? I do not think so, personally.

Cops often seem to get the short shrift from civilians. And, of course, to be fair, as should be obvious, cops are just people too, they can make that Dark Side choice as easily as anybody else. It's easier to hate than to love. To project instead of accept.

The doing of hard things is inherently noble. Challenging limits.

Doing easy things is....somewhat less so. Do the drugs. Fuck the sluts. Drink the beers and drive home. Steal stuff from work. It's easy. And corrupting. Once you can see past that barrier that society projects in to the mind....if one line of blow is good...two must be better. If bustin' yo' nut in a sluts butt is good then...more sluts, more nuts, that's the answer?

But what about loving and fucking only one person for the rest of your life? Harder. More noble? I would tend to think so. But what about even harder options? Loving somebody who strays. But this is only if you can do this from a place of choice. If you back down and show your belly because you can't fight. Weak. If you do so voluntarily to resolve a situation. Stronger? More noble? I think so.

The weak want things to matter, because they project their weakness on to the world around them. This is their singular vision. Their only option. They must fight. There's no other choice. They must take him back after he fuck their best friend because otherwise who will really love them?

So....wrap this up. Only 1500 words. But then, it's such an easy subject. There are a lot of rewards for being powerful (able to control reality) and there are often few rewards for restraint. In fact you'll be mocked more for that won't you? Being powerful and not "using it"? But then that's the weak talking, the Dark Side, insulting you, drawing you out, provoking you. "What are you a pussy? Hit me you little bitch! C'mon be a fucking man!"

But the true mark of a man would be...not caring so much if the Dark Side thinks you are weak. It is weak. It projects that singular view on to you. And this is a trick. To make you buy in to it's view. To get a rise out of you. To use that response as proof you are no better than it is. But that's yet another false binary. You can think about rape and murder (your two basic worst crimes) and so what? If you think about them, consider them, and then don't do them, then you are strong. Then you are in control. Weakness is about loss of, lack of, control. Give in. Do it. It's easy. It's fun.

So then. To really wrap this up, before I get lost in my word lust again. This is the choice humanity faces and the choice each of us face as individuals. Chose life. It's harder. It will make you a better person. It will make us all better people. I think Obama might be up to this task. But he'll be tested of course. Because, again, the thing about it, the Dark Side, is that it's always right there, that's what makes it powerful, seductive, the option is always open. Anytime you want. And the triumph of our better nature over the easy thing is what moves us closer to unity and Godhood. The ability to make the choice, not the giving in to urges and singular path stupidity. You can of course only DO one thing. 10,000 paths but only one bears your name. But if you see only one path, only two....

We are all alone in this, together. Let us comfort each other, support each other. Not predate and reduce and degrade. Raw power, exerted, is weak. Strange isn't it? Well, whatever to you jerk! *I* think it's strange. Counter-intuitive. But then maybe intuition lies? Maybe it's not really intuitive at all, maybe it's just the unexamined truth and our assumptions coming from that lack of knowledge with which we are judging the world we see around us. Maybe it's easy to choose the Dark Side when you've got nothing else in your paradigm. But then, it's always easy to choose that. Path of least resistance. Increase entropy. Building is hard, destruction is easy. Learning and doing is easy, teaching and understanding is hard. Hard is better.

There's something more here. I can't quite see it yet. Alteration and control of reality is the True Work. But understanding and awareness is the Great Work. Seeking to understand yourself. Seeking to understand others. Particularly that last one. Self is easy. It's always right there. We're never alone from our selves if we do not seek that out. But others....they are hidden, mysterious, inconsistent, they'll lie to you, lie about themselves...and...can we forgive that? Allow it to happen mercifully? Can we forgive them? If they can forgive themselves it's another thing. But we can forgive them for doing this easy thing, can't we? Isn't that exactly the Light Side *choice*? To forgive those who trespass against us.


(booyah 2k again!)