The Carnal Construct - Our Bodies Exposed

The wonders of our body,
awe inspiring organizations,
whatever the study.
The intricacies of the neurobiology.
Can anyone really believe our existence is but happenstance folly?
No, to understand the systems of our physical glory
is to realize that there's more than meets the eye to our story.

All systems have one purpose in their conception.
To run their gamut and fulfill the measure of their perfection.
Our bodies are no different, they are hardwired to live.
To persist, to prevail, to endure, to remain.
The body's wisdom and our own is not always the same.

Systems of order do what they're programmed to do.
They care not for exceptions, for others, for me or for you.
They do what they're told, policy then procedure, stimuli then reaction.
Chemicals and elements determine exaction.

The wisdom of the body
a masterful conglomerate of systems of self preservation and perfect self interest
compete against the spirit of man, a more edifying disposition.

But the wonder of mankind is agency.
Amidst complex organizations of self preservation and interest
we have the power to direct and choose
and act out purposes beyond bodily manifest orchestrations.
Subdued and bridled, the carnal flesh controlled
greater works for others and self can then unfold.

It's said that all men are born in sin.
That they inherit the original one, a product of being Adam and Eve's kin.
From what I've learned
I can see how that's true.
It's woven into the very directions of life
within me and within you.

Master the carnal man.
Yield to a higher order.
Overcome the impulses of the natural charter.
Become perfected, subdue the flesh.
Choice and then effort - greater joys to establish,
Ahh, now that is this life's real great test!

The Affectionate Kiss

Through the keyhole of physical affection spans the labyrinth of emotions. Feelings, often bubbling within, which rise to expose themselves, making outward behavioral manifestations amidst the realm of perceptible reality. Emotions are powerful. They are movements of inner sensations often orchestrated without immediate cognitive awareness. Feelings often move us.

Marketers know this, that is why they spend billions on advertising. Overall, commercials are predominantly designed to evoke feelings. Positive feelings associated to a product means a longer shelf life in the memory of the consumer and a likelihood of them buying. One of the strongest feelings in people, besides the drive of self preservation, are the emotions associated with sexual arousal. The advertising business knows this. Sex sells. Don't believe me? Turn on the TV and in 30 minutes count how many commercials have sexy models promoting something that isn't sexy. Want conclusive proof? Change the channel to MTV or VH1. Notice how many music videos are geared to attract and enslave teenagers. Teenagers - you know, children either entering, passing through, or having passed through the puberty dimension. You know the time where physical maturation opens the door to new sensate drives associated with reproduction. Targeting young people, inexperienced with their new world of feelings and not having had the time to fully understand and thereby responsibly reign in these impulses, notice how many music videos have gyrating scantily clad women or full on unabashed lyrical or acted out explicit sexual innuendo.

Many unscrupulous people would enslave young adults to their natural feelings. This they dastardly do so that they can line their own pockets. Its harder to snag more experienced adults. Most adults have learned that feelings with effort can be controlled. Most adults have come to understand that it isn't prudent nor safe to always allow all feelings a clear path to expression. Over time, mature individuals have learned that feelings have roots. They stem from desires that are as substantial as cognitive thoughts. They have learned that they can explore and eventual track their emotions back to their roots. They have also learned that feelings can be short circuited by concentrated thoughts, and attendant behavior.

Emotions in and of themselves are not bad. They are a type of fuel to quickly respond to the outside world and drive our beings in a direction. It matters very much what that direction is. The drive for physical intimacy is not bad. The feeling of wanting to be loved, or to love, is not bad. But like all things, even good things can be misused, misunderstood, or purposely abused, so that they bring trouble, pain, and loss. Take for instance - a kiss.

A kiss has a dual nature. It is a behavior of expression and a behavior of sensation. Though every kiss is enacted using the same means, the reasons behind the endeavor makes every kiss different. Likewise, the interpretation of receiving a kiss, determines the meaning, enjoyment, or repulsion, of such an act.

How many of us are so shallow as to enjoy being lied to, whether by someone else or ourselves? How many of us are so needy and self destructive that we would bring harm upon ourselves just to have any type of attention? How many of us would willfully put ourselves in a path that might bring us nothing good?

Intents can be discerned! Kisses, kiss and tell. A kiss of affection is not a kiss of lust. A kiss of affection means to give the pleasurable sensation and experience to demonstrate appreciation, acceptance, gratitude, commitment, and on and on. It is an act that is not for self. It is a form of expression, a form of communicating feelings more than words can do justice, for the intent and express benefit of the target individual. It is true it is pleasurable for the giver, but the act is not done for the giver.

Contrast that with the kiss of lust. The kiss of lust kisses to take. A kiss for themselves, for their pleasure, for their purposes, vanity, ego, prestige, and on and on. A kiss of lust is founded in pride. A kiss of lust doesn't take into consideration the ramification of the act upon the other individual. The kiss of lust doesn't care about the attachment that might develop and be disappointed because there is no concern to match the expression. The kiss of lust shares no equality of value with their partner. They are more important. Pride is a spectrum. A kiss of lust is just as much for a demonstration of superiority over others as much as an attempt to incorrectly and unproductively escape from feelings of worthlessness, sadness, loneliness, self pity, and on and on.

A kiss of lust is hollow. It is a fleeting pleasure never capable of longevity. It is shallow and dies fast with heightened manipulation tactics and eventual contention as relationships pushing skyward to grand vistas, crumble to the earth without the foundations of trust, respect, and sincere affection. In the midst of the rubble breeds damaged feelings of self. Self worth springs leaks of realization that it has been cheapened. The brave, those who don't sear their feelings into numbness, allow the experience to teach them a valuable lesson and look to rebuild on sure foundations. Those that are not brave, sear their inner feelings and stubbornly push forward, intent on the outer feelings, pursuing the same course again, but in more elaborate forms, and eventual greater damage.

Deny the kisses of lust. Accept only the kisses of genuine affection. People of beauty, beauty fades, kisses based in beauty are not kisses of affection, they are kisses of lust and eventually the kisses will cease. Kisses of affection center on the beauty of the inner person, that person doesn't fade over time. Kisses of character are the most pleasurable. Kisses of lust cheapen a persons worth relegating them as an object - a thing to be manipulated and regarded only so long as it provides what is wanted - people are not objects. People have feelings that are real and important and that deserve honesty and concern. People and their feelings are valuable.

For those that struggle at times with viewing their true worth and value, do not heap upon yourselves burdens that keep the distorted perception alive. Show yourself proof that you are of greater value. Accept nothing that is phony, fake, or not real. How can an individual know you after one meeting? What appreciation and affection can they have for you after relating through two hours of a movie or anything else of meager opportunity for other-person personal discovery? How can an individual know the depth of your character, talents, feelings, desires, interests, hopes, and dreams - in essence the important things that make you, you - in a couple of hours? Physical intimacy, even that of a kiss must reflect the intimacies of a person's heart and mind. What intimacies of personality can a stranger discover in confidence after a first meeting and warrant a physical expression? The drive to lock lips in these situations most often is lust. Levity and fun is no more understanding and relating than an audience at a rock concert is a family. Basic human interaction also shows that when strangers meet either defense behaviors go up, agreeable behavior supersedes honest feelings, or some mixture of the two until some level of trust is developed so that individuals begin losing their inhibitions and demonstrating more of who they really are. With so many shoots of weeds among the few shoots of flowers pushing through the soil, how can one distinguish one from the other, without more time? Hormonal instigation will not remind you in a disagreement the appreciation of past physical gratification, however a relationship built on knowing an individual provides greater patience and understanding and a pathway to a healthy way of dealing with the situation. Hormonal instigation will not evidence to your sight reasons of trust in times of uncertainty, however a clear understanding of a persons nature will dispel unnecessary fears.

If anything, kisses of lust breed insecurities in individuals because the self interested individual has already shown their true colors. Their character has been exposed, and that proof has been logged into the other person's memory. You can trust a selfish person to be selfish more than you would suspect them to be self less. What security do you have in a person that always jumps at an opportunity to take advantage of something or someone they find attractive, wealthy, intelligent or in any sense gratifying to their senses? A person desiring an individual, or in a relationship with such an individual, would live in a mind full of fear and lack of personal value. They would always have to supply the interests that attract the selfish individual back to them, and their constant quest would always convince them that they are not enough, they would never feel valuable as they are, for who they are.

Now contrast that with a relationship based on kisses that have meaning, established in mutual feelings of appreciation, concern, respect, and feelings seeking expressions of wanting the best for the other person. Kisses of appreciation celebrate the individual thus creating feelings of acceptance and value. The value is based in the relationship and feeds the expressions of value, not the other way around as is the philosophical underpinnings of the lustful kiss. Kisses of lust base relationships on expressions of the value of physical gratification. A doomed cycle. Kisses of appreciation are liberating, and provide reminders of qualities that sustain the everyday ongoing interactions within the relationship. Kisses of lust sustain a contractual, marketplace mentality, the lustful kisser suffers personally discordant personality and relationship issues so long as the physical gratification is still stimulating and the disagreeable behavior is manageable. Kisses of lust bring a sense of ownership, much like a person owns a commodity. Kisses of affection celebrate the autonomy of the individual and reflect an appreciation of who they choose to be and how they bless the kisser's life.

In truth the path of lustful kisses is strewn with heartache, deception, and pain. Eventually, enough lustful kisses lead to dead end relationships and hearts heavy with scars. Seek out the good kiss. Root out the motives, your own and that of others. Respect your own value and that of others. Be controlled by no unrestrained passion. Capture only the kiss that celebrates sincerity of personal value and that has significant meaning.

Seek out the affectionate kiss. Long after the kiss is over, its affection remains.

The Science of Expectations.

What drives mankind to achievement? Is it not their hopes? Is it not the desires they seek to attain. The faith that motivates to action. The glorious promise of that thing anticipated. Herein is born expectation. A result we expect. A result we anticipate. A result we look forward to enjoying. Unfortunately, we are beings devoid of complete truth, though much is known. Many times what we expect has been built upon assumptions, sometimes true, sometimes false. Many times our expectations are, like a house without a foundation, built upon what we want void of what is real, proper, established, or even good. The truth on expectations is that it is a concept that holds incredible power. It mobilizes great strength to action, but like a two edged sword, it has tremendous power to wound when wielded improperly. Used incorrectly enough times and unawares, and hopelessness, despondency and depression infect the self inflicted wounds. Some even get rid of the tool, esteeming it too dangerous and unwieldy to master. Truly, knowledge is power, literally - ability to do. We must be vigilant and seek out the right questions to ask, the right details to learn, the right methods to employ, and allow our desires to cast away the obsolete. In this way our expectations will be safe, and our joys continuous.

Borderline Personality Disorder

If a system of government, education, business, science, ethics, etc., etc., is the best in the world, then instead of going out and strategically forcing parts of the world to adopt those better ways of life, should we not instead put more emphasis on accepting, assisting, and providing more expeditious legal means for those that are willing to make the sacrifices and efforts to share in our ways of life?

Should we not prioritize the promotion of our ideals?

Should the benefits of our societal moorings not be proffered first to those that are actively seeking the benefits we enjoy and who are risking life and limb to come to our lands, live, and work among us?

The most important resource the United States can have is citizens. The more capable and productive people we have uniting with us under the same vision of responsible and liberating freedoms - the stronger the nation.

Instead of spending a half a trillion dollars, and over a half a decade, on forcibly compelling a land and its people to adopt our way of life, imagine how those resources could have benefited all, had we spent it on expediting and making more accessible the process for immigrants. Immigrants, mostly people hungry to improve their lives as well as the lives of their families. Instead of losing money in a deteriorating cause we would stimulate the economy with added talent, genius, and workers, and in over half a decade our land would have become increasingly more productive and advanced. Instead of losing a half a trillion dollars we easily would have created that amount along with the potential for continued and greater growth. This would mean: more money for better infrastructure, more money for better schooling, more money for better foods, more money for better technology, more money for better medicines, more research for curing diseases, etc., etc. Instead of the dollar losing value it would increase in value.

There is nothing beneficial about war. War is loss. Lost lives, fortunes, and resources. It is a last resort for when nothing else works for defending oneself. It is the equivalent of chemotherapy, or surgically removing a tumor or limb. War is not edifying, it is by its very nature and definition, destructive. There is nothing glamorous, romantic, or beautiful about war. It is ugly, gruesome, repulsive, revolting, and by nature is designed, and brings nothing but death and destruction. Necessary wars are those that are defensive in nature after all other avenues have been exhausted and resulted impotent. On the whole, for countries and for the masses that inhabit them, war is disastrous, however, unless both sides are annihilated, eventually, there is a side which overwhelms the other. When that happens, people of influence position themselves to lay claim to very lucrative future opportunities, as well as the immediate spoils. Wars are a very effective tool for transferring wealth and establishing networks of power. For people already in positions of power, who don't actually fight on the front lines, the exigencies of war are less weighty than the potential opportunities they can attain. Enticed by wealth and power, the temptation to send others to their deaths for causes less worthy than the value of their own lives becomes a means to an end, collateral damage.

Instead of losing U.S. Americans to untimely deaths or incapacitating and maiming life long injuries let us retain the vitality, energy, and influence of those brave U.S. soldiers. Redirect the energy and money siphoned into selfish war efforts into immigration advancements and we would add new U.S.Americans to our ranks, strengthen the country, create more success stories that would radiate the world over, and reclaim our status of friend to the world and not the next empire on the rise.

Instead of destroying our country's reputation and image among the nations of the world by waging a war of strategic empirical power cloaked in the shrouds of feigned altruism, we would radiate millions of immigrant testimonies; testimonies of gratitude and opportunity which would disseminate from our shores from goals sought out and attained. Those stories of improvement, heard from the mouths of former country-persons, together with no more suffering brought upon people negatively affected by our war efforts, would undermine the hatred and bitterness terrorist cells thrive on for recruitment efforts.

That there needs to be order in the process of accepting new citizens into the country - yes, it is needful. However, this issue must be regarded more pressing than its current status. Along with the new generations of children born into the country, immigration is the life blood of this country's future. Put a strangle hold on these carotid arteries, while we needlessly bleed from wars that destroy our citizens' lives, burn fortunes for tomorrows necessities, and we will soon feel the death throes of the nation.

Inclusion, by furthering the immigration of those wanting to enter the U.S.A., will have greater effects to spread our government process than any other. Initially, there will be little effect, however in the long term a significant critical mass will naturally promote the benefits of their experiences to those they left behind. When enough of those voices are heard, the peoples of different nations will choose the paths that bring them those things they have seen people they trust, obtain. Without compulsory means the people of different lands will of their own free will and choice stand up, organize, and demand to adopt those same processes of success.

It is easier to make friends with those that are interested and seeking out friendship than with those that never asked to be friends. Any person will tell you that willful consent is a far more powerful force for unity than compulsion.

The country's future is dependent on the care and effort we give to the rising generations - the children, as well as the good people seeking to enter into our borders. Let us be wise. Let us give priority and work on the efficiency of bringing them in, you can never have too many brother and sister citizens.

Friend?

"Do you know what friendship is?", enquired Gringoire in Victor Hugo's 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'. "Yes replied the Egyptain (Esmeralda) it is to be as brother and sister, two souls which touch each other without uniting like two fingers of the same hand."

What is a friend?

Shared experiences do not a friend make. Acquaintances are not friends. Common experiences do not a friend make. Having pleasurable, exciting, or agreeable things to offer does not a friend make. A friend is someone that makes the time to care. It is a person that holds the interests of the other as valuable as their own. It is someone who steps out of them self for another. Esmeralda spoke correctly when she said, "it is to be as brother and sister", brother and brother, sister and sister. "Two fingers of the same hand", "which touch each other without uniting". Friendship is to have comrades, companions, through life. Friends do not come and go, those that are ecdysial were never friendships, merely embellished associations. A civil face, the empty kind word, the proper friendly deed, sacrifices without the soul's sincere concern for the individual, merely duty to an ideal of propriety without the bonds of faithfulness, friendliness alone does not a friend make. In an age of vipers, hypocrites, guileful and calculating flatterers, apparent behaviors mean very little.

Motive and heart is where friendship is found. To hold precious the heart and soul of another, a friend can just as easily tell you how well you did, as tell you that you are wrong. Just as easily can they tell you that you are hilarious, as tell you that you are being annoying. A friend can without reservation tell you that you make them happy, as tell you that you did something that made them mad. How? A friend is couched in being real. Real to their perception, real to their feelings, real to the relationship. A friend is a brother, a sister, bound together by invisible blood that makes them relatives. Real friends are as difficult to separate as adjacent fingers. They seek each other out. They communicate. They relate. They consider. They share. Not out of obligation, not out of compulsion, but out of esteem, trust, safety of honesty, and safety of confidence. They can be real. They can be themselves without reservation. Brothers and sisters see each other in their most vulnerable of times, they are privy to the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. They have these experiences mostly due to situational proximity. Having to live together and spend so much time together, siblings more fully see the individual that makes up their brother or sister. They know their history. They know their triumphs and defeats. They can relate. They have perspective. They develop concern and care, and are committed to them. Their bond, an allegiance, dedication, and commitment to the prosperity and happiness of that individual. This heart guides and gives rise to being able to say and do even the most difficult of things to or for that individual. Friends follow suit in all these aspects. Friendship is a choice, and it is born out of love; brotherly love, sisterly love. Friendship is to be familiar, no longer a stranger but an equal; friendship thrives in trusting this cornerstone point. Remove this, and friendship is hollow. It is rote, having no life of itself, it is contrived. It is manipulative and deceptive. A machination of perception, a body without a soul. Friends value each other as the same, meaning they value the other as they do themself. Seeing others as worth-less than what they esteem as their own worth, is not friendship. Friendships based on all other reasons are also not truly friends. Friends do unto each other as they want done unto themselves.

Those that are friends, so long as the circumstances are pleasing, fair weather friends, are counterfeit. They are counterfeit friends, as well as hollow people. They are whited sepulchres full of dead men's bones. Hypocrites by definition. True friends are discovered in adversity. Friends are proven, not in fair weather, but in the storms of life. Friends are diamonds resulting of the integrity to stand against the time and pressures of life, supportively together. Value is ascribed by sacrifice not by ease. Journeying through difficulties with mutual support endear persons of gratitude together. Why? Clearly because they show, prove, the intent, motive, and heart of the person that sacrifices. It reveals the true friend, the real friend.

Fingers assist the cause of the hand. They don't abandon each other. They work side by side, assisting to add strength and stability in the endeavor, but more importantly, to each other. They do not work against each other. They do not neglect each other.

There are many people that are kindly people cloaking themselves in the gown of friendship though they are merely cordial associates. There are people that are wolves in friendly sheep's clothing. Then there are real friends, those brothers of another mother, and sisters of another mother that stand the test of time and circumstance.

Are you a friend? Do you have people that call themselves your friends? Are they trully friends? Are you?

Unquenchable Flames

My Father is Truth.
My Mother is Consequence.
My Sojourning Home, Earth.
My Enemy, Enslavement.
My Brother, Liberty.
My Sister, Commitment.
I am Choice.

People, what will we be? Who will we be? Are we a people wrought with beautiful words and empty husks of life? Are we a people of champions? Do you not know that not all champions are the same! What cause do you champion? Do we live the greater, nobler causes, service of heart and mind, or do we merely pay lip service, expressing what we know but that which we refuse to become? Are we a people of master devils, entangling others with sophistry and guile, or are we people of principle and sincerity?

Who is your master? Is your master Vanity? Is your master Comfort? Is your master Wealth? Is it Power? Is it Praise? What do you worship? What god do you reverence? To what god do you subject yourself? Where is your allegiance? Show me where a man or woman suffers and sacrifices, and I will show you where their treasure lies. Show me where men and women persevere and focus their efforts and minds, and I will show you their god. We journey on paths eternal. There is nothing new to time and human experience. The masters of life are principles of truth, their enforcer, consequence. We bow to no man only to causes.

My will is my own. What I subject my will to adopt becomes who I am, it makes me, me. No one wills for me. No man or God has that power. I can give my will to no one. How I choose, why I choose, what I choose; my will is what is uniquely mine. It defines me. The freedom is in choosing, but make no mistake choosing is merely the alignment of individual will to a cause subject to the governing principles of life and consequence. I become what I will. If I lie, I become a liar. If I steal, I become a thief. If I cheat, I become a cheater. If I put on a face of civility and cordialness though with a heart aloof of feeling and sincerity, I am a hypocrite. If I tell the truth, I am Honest. If I stand for the truth, I am Integral. If I suffer for what is good and right I am Brave. If I do what must be done and forget myself, I am Hero.

Life's all important first lesson; what we will, we become, in thought, in speech, in emotions, in action, in person!

What defines us as people is not what we acquire or what we can do, those are merely our fruits, it is what we are, the tree!

Life by this view becomes a defining battle. A great struggle to cling to virtue, morality, and truth. The time has come, it is now where, by our lives, and choices, we demonstrate whether we will choose the path that is easy or the path that is right and true. Knowing the path and walking the path are two distinct situations. Make no mistake it is a struggle. Not outwardly, but inwardly. To resolve to be whatever we choose requires commitment. It requires persistence. It requires sacrifice and loyalty. Vision is paramount. Reason and purpose to motivate. It requires constant proof of mind, evidences, to sustain faith. It means resistance to counter-attacks. It means rejection of alternatives. All that effort to assure, sustain, and endure. It means that in support of a cause we become the product of that cause.

We are all on the path to becoming one with something. Where does your path lead?