Descent into Dystopia

The descent into dystopia often happens in deafening silence. It happens by normalizing the absurd, by justifying the unjustifiable. It happens through the silent strangling of morality, the whitewashing of lies, and the unnoticed yet violent evanescence of truth. At first, the darkness creeps only as a grey shadow; unthreatening, almost charming, like nostalgia on a cloudy day. In moments of fleeting clarity, those guarding the light can sometimes notice the gaping abyss that lies beyond. Some may even try to speak, but only to have their whispered words dissolve into the wind. And those who already lived with the shadow in their hearts, notice nothing, as they are cradled softly into the sordid embrace of the night.

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A Dream About Death

Last night, I had a dream, in which death was not what it seems. I saw a world in which the deceased, instead of diminishing completely at death, appeared to remain in some form within this reality plane. They could be seen, as they had been until the moment of death itself. They could be spoken to and heard, even touched and held, as if they had never left. Yet, this state of post-death non-being, this abstracted state of in-between, lasted only some time, maybe a few days or a week at most. After which, the deceased slowly faded away, not to be seen, heard or touched again. I received no indication, in my dream, as to the exact nature of what this phenomenon means. Was it that the deceased actually remained on earth, even in a physical form, for just a little longer? Or was it more likely that it was an edifice of their former being, created out of their memories that dwelled in the collective minds of those who knew them? Were these memories somehow ossified into existence, as ...

The Meaning's Edge

The Soul of Time by Trumbull Stickney THE SOUL OF TIME T IME'S a circumference Whereof the segment of our station seems A long straight line from nothing into naught. Therefore we say " progress, " " infinity " — Dull words whose object Hangs in the air of error and delights Our boyish minds ahunt for butterflies. For aspiration studies not the sky But looks for stars; the victories of faith Are soldiered none the less with certainties, And all the multitudinous armies decked With banners blown ahead and flute before March not to the desert or th' Elysian fields, But in the track of some discovery, The grip and cognizance of something true, Which won resolves a better distribution Between the dreaming mind and real truth. I cannot understand you. 'T is because You lean over my meaning's edge and feel A dizziness of the things I have not said. ...

Materialism, Consciousness and The Totality of Truth

What is reality? Where does one anchor one's sense of what is real? In other words, what is the true nature of the phenomenon of our experience? These questions contain many loaded terms, much-debated and discussed. As such, they can quickly become philosophical dynamite, the kind that could burst into flames by the tiniest spark of a misspoken word or an ill-pondered conjecture. Nonetheless, some deem these questions worth asking, to grab hold of that philosophical dynamite, to stroll through the cloud of metaphysical splinters, to brave the tumult of the raging epistemic tempest. All in the hope of reaching some imagined calm centre of understanding, enlightenment, deliverance, redemption, yada, yada, yada . Here is one such attempt. Things and Stuff: The fetish of materialism, as manifested today through consumer capitalism, is no stranger to anyone, anywhere, anymore. While it takes different forms in different places, the essence of the obsession is the same. On Wall St...

Shijya-Moni

Shijya and Moni were brothers, twins conceived at the same time, sharing the same womb, connected by the same life-force. Their destinies had been entwined from the moment of their birth. Yet, despite the congruence of their cosmic karma, the lives of Shijya and Moni unfolded in perfectly divergent paths, in diametrically opposite tangents. So much so that it made their kinship almost unrecognizable to those who knew them. Shijya was the ideal child, a paragon of virtue, and the embodiment of studiousness, diligence and integrity. He excelled at everything he did. A favourite among his teachers, and a darling to his aunts and uncles, he was known to be humble, polite, kind, and helpful. He had no enemies and many friends, all of whom saw him as a reliable confidant they could turn to at any time. By the time he was 16, Shijya had all academic avenues open to him to explore any field of study he wanted, winning scholarships and Ivy League admissions. He was also frequently seen spe...

The Conquest of Dimensions

It is obvious that there exists many definitional ambiguities with regards to the phenomenon that we call "life". Interestingly, in a world where hegemony of description is essentially the seat of power, the term has yet to be completely hijacked by the authoritative establishments under which we live today. Therefore, when I decided to Google "define life", the output was multifaceted, diverse and often vague. Nonetheless, conversation cannot be stopped short, simply for lack of exact descriptors. Among the many definitions I found, there is the scientific one (defined by the dynamism of biological processes), the pragmatic one (defined as the necessary condition to be 'alive'), the temporal one (defined as the phenomenon that occurs between birth and death), the philosophical one (defined as the existential conundrum within which we all dwell). And among the various other articulations on the net, Terence McKenna provides a definition of life that I...

Remusings

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