Author: bryan6769

From the mind of critic: “If objects, people and events bend to our will, does too the moral arc of the universe? Does the arc always bend toward justice, and our species can either shorten or lengthen the bend? Can our thoughts, feelings and actions change the bend to a straight line, or maybe an S curve? Do semantics solve anything, or are they meant to sound good to make ourselves feel like we’re taking action? We, as in any one of us can change the trajectory of the status quo, society and collective evolution. It may take longer, but chances are if we’re determined and passionate enough, people will be drawn toward us, which is where the we, as in all of us comes in. Some of us believe light will win out in the end, and some believe dark will. Once we realize most humans want peace, justice, respect and love, we’ll see that not only do we succeed when all of us do, but we can bend, straighten, curve or downright destroy the moral arc, depending on how it benefits us and/or tears down others. Considering we build each other up because we’ve built ourselves up, we can shorten or lengthen the road toward justice. What is more beneficial? If our justice takes away justice from others, it’s not justice, it’s tyranny. We all want to fight tyranny, right?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we argue that racial equality has never been fully acheived, could we also argue that we’ve never really asked why? Have some people asked, while others have glossed over the surface? Has a portion of the population been told by generations of inbedded racism in advertisements, business, government, family and friends, that things are what they are, and “those people” are like that, so we have to protect “our kind?” We’ve gotten so used to kicking the can down the road for the next generation to deal with, that we’ve forgotten how we got here by refusing to look in the mirror. By being so afraid to deal with our past, let alone admit atrocities that happened, and the ones happening currently, we’ve allowed problems to fester because we believe half-ass token responses are good enough, and as good as we’re probably gonna get anyway. So let me be as clear and concise as my 36 year old conscious mind will allow. I love America, and all the freedom, equality, peace and justice it’s suppossed to stand for. but until we not only acknowledge our dark, racist, genocidal and ignorant past, but comprehend all the details of how it’s filtered into our current environment, we will only know token unity. To collectively evolve we must do more than utter platitudes, we must act.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we care more about a political party than we do about certain issues, do issues really matter? If we care more about certain issues than we do about a political party, do political parties really matter? Do we vote for issues that matter to us, or for a candidate that we don’t necessarily fully support, but are better than the other side? When somebody is considered an issues voter, they are described as only supporting certain issues, while ignoring all others they disagree with. If somebody from an opposing party supports issues they care about, then they’ll vote for them. Which makes one wonder why we have political parties at all. If somebody ran on issues they cared about, people would support them, and they could raise money and build a following. There comes a time when we all must ask, are poltical parties used to hang on to control of a power structure, that has been enforcing their iron grip for thousands of years? There also comes a time when we must stand up for what’s right, even if it’s hard, especially if it’s hard. Laziness can’t be an excuse for inaction. If we support people, we must support all people. Once we do, the need for political parties will float away. Then, and only then will we have true unity.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If ignorance is bliss, is knowledge misery? Does not knowing things make us joyful, because we’re ignoring what’s blatantly obvious? Does learning the nature of harsh realities make us sad, because we’re internalizing how bad some people have it? In our minds does fantasy and reality coexist, or are they one in the same? When we learn something, we can’t unlearn it. Once we open that door, it’s permanently held open by a doorstop made from our world being turned upside down. We can close our eyes and pretend like our fellow humans are doing great and not hurting, but just because we ignore something, doesn’t make it dissappear. It can make matters worse, when this ignorance is ingrained and passed down. Whole generations are taught to hate and fear, then let it filter into their lives, and then can’t remember why they were suppossed to hate and fear in the first place. They’re so used to ignoring, that they don’t see the targets of their venom as having the same human frailties as them. Once we realize that bliss is built up in our heads by ignoring everything around us, we’ll see that our inner joy is always fake if it tears somebody else down. Learning the actual nature of our world can be daunting, but we can ensure real joy by learning and then acting. Knowledge only brings misery, if we don’t use it for conscious action.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If thick fog impairs our morning drive, how come light burns through the fog, while other light magnifies the fog? Is there a difference in the brightness of the sun burning off the fog, and the brightness of highbeams reflecting back? Is it about finding that goldilocks zone of light, where it’s not to bright or dim but just right? Does shedding to much light make matters worse? The sun is much more powerful than highbeam headlights, nobody is denying that. The fog that hangs low and thick these days is so hard to cut through, and is and has been so ingrained, that any lattempt to shine light on the truth, is seen as fake depending on the person and the news outlet. Sometimes the truth is so different from everything we’ve heard, that it would flip our world upside down to hear anything that questions our outlook or way of life. Once we realize the fog that overshadows our humanity is the same for all of us, just like the light that illuminates our humanity, we’ll see that each of us are much more likely to internalize truth, if we express it a humanistic and accountable way. Basically, if we talk to somebody instead of at them, they’re much more likely to listen. Bright headlights might make fog worse, but humanistic truth, will always cut through. If we have the power to create and then feed the fog, we certainly have the power to burn it off. Are we ready to accpet a new day?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If every morning starts a new day, is it a physical start or something more? If every night ends that new day, is it a physical end or something more? Is this beginning and ending cycle a once in a lifetime thing, or part of our daily routine? Is a physcical and emotional beginning and end the same, different or symbiotic? The beginning of a journey can be happy, joyful and full of hopes, dreams and goals to come. On the same token, the end of journey can be sad, miserable and can be full of dread, insecurities and regrets. They can be that way, but just like life, once we think we know how it is, we get thrown a curveball to prove we really don’t know anything. Once we realize the beginning and end is not just a bigger cycle, but also daily smaller cycles that make up that bigger cycle, we’ll see that we have many beginnings and ends, but the end is never “the” end, just a way to clear out old experiences, to make room for better and more fulfilling ones. Beginnings and ends are never the start and stop of something, but a continous montage of moments, that needs constant recognition and clearing out for it to flow freely.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If human characteristics placed on animals help us better understand them, do animal characteristics placed on humans help us better understand ourselves? Does this better understanding lead to conscious evolution, or further cementing of ingrained attitudes and actions? If we’re all animals but supposedly civilized, does learning of our inherent incivility, make us want to turn back the clock, or wind it forward? As we continue understanding animal life by any means necessary, so too must we understand human life by any means necessary. However because of free will, just having the information to help us understand, doesn’t guarantee we will. We can take in and use the understanding, we can ignore it or simply stare blankly. Once we realize that animal and human comparisons can help explain light and love and dark and hateful actions, we’ll see it’s up to us to use that information to better life for humans, by bettering life for all humans, because unity won’t just fall in our laps. We’re all animals and we’re all humans, it’s up to us what’s our dominant trait.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If childrens stories and nursery ryhmes were to dark and violent back when, and way to disney-fied nowadays, Where is the happy medium? How do we keep kids innocent as long as possible, while not lying about how the world really is, so they become well adjusted adults? If we teach our kids the difference between real and make believe, the first time they wake at the crack of dawn for saturday morning cartoons, do we authentically understand the concept ourselves? Is it another way of vocalizing do as I say, not as I do? The messages in our kids stories used to reflect the crushing harshness of life, It showed an unvarnished truth, that although dark, was real. Now as an over correction, we have Disney, Dreamworks, Cartoon Network and countless others that show such a fantastical view, that unless we enunciate what real life actually is, our kids will grow up living in a completely unaccountable and gullible fantasy world. Once we realize that to teach truth, we have to learn it and then know it first, we’ll see that if the next generation has any hope for building a better future, it will be because we allowed them to indulge in their imaginations, while simultaneously letting them know of the sometimes dark and ugly, but also sometimes light and beautiful truth. The balance between fantasy and truth is achieved, when we realize that to understand one, we have to understand the other.” 🙂