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Truth and Lies
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 2105
Awake and now caffeinated, todays question (one of many I distracted myself with, not falling asleep) was how lies can be used to express truth. This is the job of every writer, to tell a story, possibly fictional, but beneath the characters, plot and location capture something essential and true; artists, painters and musicians all do the same, hide the truth within a lie, we, the audience, will find it, pick it out, if there is truth it will resonate with us, if it is false the art will not survive. And in time the lie evolves.
And this is true as well with mathematics and the sciences - think of negative numbers: they do not exist. It is that simple, yet without negative numbers we could not have the banking system (not necessarily a bad thing), debt could not exist, it is a theory or thought construct that allows us to move and grow in different directions. But a bank is but a trivial application of this idea, think of the computer software, advanced math and physics that all use negative numbers, without their supposed existence (the lie) we could not have gotten into space or to the moon.
God is another such example. I don't mean "God" - here, the big G, but those specific cultural gods, think of the early Christian God, wrathful, angry, proud, human, yet upon him was built the Cistine Chapel, Notre Dame of Paris, St. Pauls Cathedral, libraries of music were composed in his honor, countless books, paintings, sculptures were created to celebrate his glory. Every religion has done the same, from a lie built truth.
Or Physics and Chemistry - the models we are taught in school, the periodic table of elements, all are lies. We have no photo's of the atom, our knowledge of it is entirely inferred, the models we use are props to help us imagine their existence, yet these models and thought structures allow us to manipulate chemical structures, create plastics, fuels, the list is endless...
Find other examples - in politics - in philosophy - anywhere you can - of lies that have been used to create truth.
Over time these lies evolve, they reach the end of their usefulness, the early Christian God has been thrown out of science in favour of chemistry and physics, and these things will in time as well be thrown as well, the lies having reached the end of their purpose and new ones will emerge to move us forward.
Which brings the question:
What new lies can we tell that will move us personally, or as a society, forward?
Insomnia
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
- Hits: 1442
5:00 AM and I have laid awake the past 2 hours, woken at 3:00 AM suddenly, awake, restless. No dreams that I can recall, but a sense of urgency, a missed connection, a premonition. I check my email, there is nothing, outside it's raining, cool, leaves turning to mulch on the lawn, the streets glisten...I've left the windows on the car open...
My premonitions are rare, but seldom wrong, I am more logic than instinct, but I heed the voice, it's a beautiful morning, a cigarette, one of many final cigarettes while I gather my thoughts.
And so I return to bed, wondering what compelled me to get up, trying again to fall asleep. I should know better, there is a reason for my waking even if I do not see it, and so I try to hide the little problem of my waking beneath the bigger problems, the big questions...
I muse upon the lies that create truth, symmetry, and other trifles, but none lead me to sleep. I wonder at the demons that have cropped up lately in my dreams, not being religious I wonder where they have come from... There was another demon recently, a short dream, a short demon, he merely entered the room, following somebody else but, I was busy, watching a mozza melt on a veggie burger I was making, waiting, it would be ready soon. I was hungry, the demon left.
Now, a pot of coffee and the day begins. There is work to be done, I need a shovel and rake, the compost needs to be placed outside and raked into the garden, twigs need to be gathered, websites built... there is work to be done.
Of Satanic Forces at the foot of the Bed
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
- Hits: 1942
This is an old dream I had perhaps when I was 20 years old, but I still remember it.
I've lied down to fall asleep...my bed is on the floor, a futon, I'm listening to the radio.
I keep changing stations, I can't listen if I don't like the music, and I switch from station to station, searching for something I like.
And I realize that I'm not using my hands to change the stations, they are responding to my will, the radio switches as I will it...
I become concious of a presence at the foot of the bed, dark, malevolent, evil beyond imagining, and am seized with fear. Not mortal fear, this is something deeper, the fear for ones soul...
I am lifted off the bed, perhaps 3 feet, and then dropped back.
The presence is still there, but further away, I screw up the courage to get out of bed and turn on all the lights in the apartment.
This does not dispell it, the presence, it could come back, shapeless...evil.
For a long time I tried to explain this dream, I had laid down, but I had no recollection of falling asleep or waking up, only the changing of stations and the evil presence at the foot of the bed...
But it's not as uncommon as it might at first appear: try this link: hypnogogia
Krzysztof Kieslowski
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 2142
I'll start with a master. Many of you may be familiar with his "Red", "White" and "Blue" trilogy, but Krzysztof Kieślowski has done more than just that. In specific, "The Double life of Veronica" - a film about a set of spiritually cojoined twins who can only intuit one anothers existences.
And the other, his "Decalogue" series, 10 short films made for Polish television based upon the 10 commandments. Not that he was religious (not that I am), but if something were to convert you it would be these works - each very simply done, muted colors, simple themes, all filmed on the same location [A bleak Warsaw apartment block], with the same actors in various roles, but God is in the details, and these films have everything, in small gestures and nuances he explores various facets of human existence, dissects the ordinary, imbues it with meaning, and reassembles, reanimates it, exploring overlapped and missed coincidences, synchronicities, triumph and tragedy, all on a microscopic, human scale.
Both films available at Bird Dog Video (in Calgary), if you live elsewhere try your independant movie vendor first. It's time well spent.
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