Attā hi attanō nāthō
But it's not in the statement.
My work involves many things, but at this moment it occurs to me, that it is about protection. That is not declared in my current statement. It's in the art. It's in the code. It's in my favorite translation of attā hi attanō nāthō… each is their own protector.
But it's not in the statement.
My life is about protecting. Protecting people, protecting the process, protecting possibility.
All I have created is a message. A story I am telling myself. A story of reality. A series of breadcrumbs. A following of clues. And so I have followed the trail to now. And now is somehow different then every then before.
I am not on the trail now, not on the hunt. Not fixed like a fly on sticky paper to a path that has no exits. No off ramps. No choice that changes anything. Just dumps me back on the same road. Best just to go with it.
The Language of Supremacy
Everything must be right. Everything must be better. This language seeps into most things like a porous substance absorbing a self replicating fluid, drowning, spilling over, entombing. Insidious.
Competing narratives of supremacy only serve the ultimate force, the need to prove superiority. In this case, you can’t fight fire with fire, as you will become it.
Balance is not superior. It is not special. It is not better. It is both yielding and un-yielding. It is what is needed in reality. It recognizes that truth in summer is different then truth in winter, yet both are true.
Reality is Observable
I try to say what some things are in a clear way because I have grown up in a culture of confusion and I have found that confusion is not an accident. It is intentional. And when someone says, “hey, we don't have to be confused, this is not actually confusing, it's simple and it's liberating” and there is great opposition and attack to that, well, there is a purpose there also.
I have found great healing in silence, but being silenced is an entirely other thing.
I have been silenced by violence throughout my life. I have had many words put in my mouth that are not mine. I know my own experiences. I know myself. I am not concerned with that. I am still looking for solutions to the ongoing condition of violence. I am still participating in the unfolding of my own understanding.
This has always been my endeavor, to understand and resolve these tendencies and obsessions. So I have observed many patterns in this process. The nature of ignorance. The nature of power. The inherent trap of an authority giving another authority. The trouble with giving all your energy to something outside yourself as the embodiment of your own self hood.
This is a fundamental, psychological condition, however, it is not absolute. It requires training. Belief. Conditioning. Power requires projection of identity. No matter the story, it contains violence. How much identity are you willing to surrender for peace in every moment?
We can be right, we can be correct and I think accuracy is important but it is not always helpful. However, if we are not all willing to examine our beliefs in an honest way, there can be no accuracy. And so then we simply become a mass of imbeciles, throwing meaningless power at each other.
What is the point?
To maintain a fantasy of ownership, of identity, which as far as I can see results always in violence. So this is what it is. This pattern continually manifests and becomes quite apparent. It can be investigated and proved which is good, but it is also simply plain as day to those who see it.
There are mechanics to systems which are observable.
Belief systems are observable systems. They are not all the same. They do not all function on the same premise. Respect is not lying about what things are for a fake tolerance. Respect is acknowledging what things are and appreciating people's humanity regardless.
Calling a belief system another name because of a difference in detail is not another system. We could say it is another style. Arguing over style is an interesting choice.
People seem to spend their entire lives engaged in that. It's good for the economy. It's good for profit. You can't have profit without ownership. Who bestows the right of ownership?
The victim/oppressor dichotomy is a trap.
Change the story.
I will raise the dead, I will raise
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