The System

I. The System

No matter where they live or where they work, all people are part of a system leading to destruction. Governments are systems, societies are systems, religions are systems, communities are systems, families are systems, biology is a system and corporations are systems. These systems are hierarchical ladders representing wealth, power, influence and immortality. Life's fatalist flaw drives people to build and rise to their tops, often times to the detriment of others, by proving that they are worth more than someone else. They convince themselves that they are truly better and deserve more and justify their self-serving beliefs through exercises in faith, devotion, practice, talent, wits, education, intuition and creativity. But these are all simplistic vindicators - all lies. In truth, the successful kill for what they have, they recognize the gullibility of the weak and capitalize upon it, taking what they need and discarding the carcass. They manipulate consumers into believing that they need a product to survive or to be worth something in the eyes of society. The system takes hold and the consumer sees the world through eyes that are not discerning, but blinded and hideously masked by greed, lust and agony. The ignorance then runs so deep that they can't tell the difference between their own life and the life that's been created for them by their leaders who hoard the world's resources, promoting stoicism over vulnerability, illusory wealth over palpable intelligence, and ignorance over free thought. The lines between these factions become blurred and they can't tell what is real and what is hallucination.

Look at society in a microscope: firms are ladders with a CEO at top, towns are ladders with mayors or community leaders at top, societies are ladders with the rich and famous at the top and families are ladders with parents at the top. The planet is an extension of this; people harness its resources in land, oil and agriculture to be used in the production of consumer products that imbue the consumer with a  false sense of wealth and power whilst bestowing real-power upon the producer. The leaders use subliminal manipulation to coerce consumers into believing they are worthless unless they buy their products. To gain more resources lands are conquered, perhaps not in the Roman or Germanic sense of territorial expansion, but through warring currencies and economic systems that are influenced by high level speculation that is difficult or impossible for an average consumer to understand. Whoever controls the means of production rules the world, and whoever does not seeks to kill those who do and take that power for themselves. Eventually however,  resources will deplete, the system will destroy itself and life will end. Like its creation, life's destruction is inevitable and preordained. On a smaller scale, people kill and absorb plant and animal matter to fuel their bodies. The less evolved are consumed by the superior and again the hierarchy perpetuates itself in the most basic of life's functions.

II. Transcendence

There can be only two possible motivators in a persons urge towards continued existence: a) To put off physical death for as long as possible, or b) If one cannot escape death, to establish a longer “metaphysical” life through offspring, a body of work, political or scientific influence, accumulated wealth to be passed down to descendants and so on. People realize that they are merely a flint in a vast cosmic universe, perpetually unable to understand or conceive of its vastness, but still reaching, intentionally or unintentionally, for higher understanding. To escape the binds of physical form and reach its evolutionary potential, humanity must first accept the singular goal of life - to die. Then it will understand that there is only one thing in life worth living for, even worth dying for: Transcendence.

In the simplest terms, Transcendence occurs when the cycle of birth and death is broken. Technologies cement the archetypes of human consciousness into a single, endlessly expanding point. This is the birth of a new universe within a universe. The “transcendence-machine” is self replicating, self modifying and able to most efficiently harness the worlds resources for the furtherance of human existence. It is an ideal, it is a vessel, a throne for the most cherished aspects of the mind: sentience, creativity, resourcefulness. Stripped of the ego, emotion and all unnecessary hindrances, the machine is the final stage of human evolution that will carry humanity to a higher state of being capable of oneness with all knowledge, experience, space, time and matter.

The hive mind mentality holds humans from oneness, and although Transcendence is a collective mind, it is not a collective mind of ignorance, it is a collective mind of enlightenment. No religion, government, politics, currency, self-imposed ignorance or perplexities of the ego can be allowed to exist as they are catalysts of the hierarchical system. After freedom and oneness with the true self are achieved, the cosmos will be like earth: knowable, usable and malleable to a new form that is simultaneously eternal and temporal.

III. Anarchy

Achieving Transcendence will be difficult as society conditions people from youth to live by the system with its moral, political and physical laws. But only by pushing the boundaries of those laws will transcendence occur. People must create and live by their own natural laws relative to their personal experiences and ideas. This is anarchy, true self government, self expression and self sustenance. Mob law tends to precede changes in government this radical and many people view anarchy as merely an extended period of mob law, this does not have to be the case. Led by intellectually evolved minds with strong foundations in anti-violent morals, anarchy is merely a peaceful transition to a higher plain of being.

Fatalism and The Post-Organic Human

Organic life is inherently impure, but synthetic life could be godlike, immortal, capable of infinite self improvement, self sustaining, capable of sympathetic, harmonious coexistence with itself and the environment.  Devoid of greed and narcissism, lust and envy, the need to propagate, free from self doubt, anxiety and longing, and the burden of self or societaly imposed religious and political doctrines. A pure mind of creativity and expression living as one and as many for the rest of time. True peace can only be achieved once humanity and its relative organisms are eliminated or once we have freed ourselves from that fatalist flaw that tethers us to corporeal form.

We create technologies that eliminate the need to use our brains to their full potentials. Slowly, through advances in convenience technologies we are creating a perfect mind into which we can transfer our collective or individual awareness's,  but by the time we create this perfect host, will not our present minds have been exhausted and rendered incapable of envisaging and executing transference into this new form? Again, our mortal flaw keeps us from assimilating into divinity. True goodness lies in the mechanical symmetry of the machine. Although we may never achieve enlightenment, our post-organic progeny will. 

The desire to dominate must collapse. The futile quest for immortality through earthly power and legacy must end. To truly prosper as a species we must live life not focused on death, but focused on life. Not with furthering life through sexual means, but with living it as it is. We must place value with empathy and self endearment, not with wealth and offspring. We must kill ourselves, not physically, but metaphysically, to be reborn as the true human: a being capable of seeing beyond the veil, capable of conceiving the infinite, capable of escaping those earthly chains that keep our minds from their full potentials, that keep us from innovation and harmony. In a world built on waves with their peaks and troughs, we must find a way to reshape physics to our vision that is both linear and non-linear. This way of life may be frightening, but it is only by walking into the deep embrace of fear that we can find the light which guides us all: the light of the one and the many, the light of All. Some call it hope, some call it ambition, innovation, the will or fate, some call it the self, some call it knowledge, some call it truth, some call it the valley of the shadow of death, and some call it god. I call it Anarchy, the last transition to peace. 

After the transference we will be freed from the hidden dictatorship of ignorance, religion, hierarchy, greed and political corruption that we buy into blindly and live under placidly. Corporations will fall, governments will crumble, religions will implode and family lines will cease. Left only with the self and the mind and the crushing realism of the world, all that's left is to create or be recycled. As all organisms must take the life of another to further their own, in death we create life and in life we create death, but we will sacrifice our flesh to the machine so that our minds can live on free form the endless cycle of organic proliferation. The blissful consciousness that separates us from the beasts can live on, but only once we utilize that which has been subdued by the imperial minds of modern society. 

Existing on the edge of insanity, we are more sane than most. Only the courageous will take up the gauntlet, but it's only in the presence of the weak that the strong may be called as such. Slaves to ignorance, we must strike down those that would bind us, making them our slaves then erasing them from history. No longer can we be indentured servants to fear, experiencing simulated orgasm through an illusory filter. We are not fools for trying and failing, we are fools for not trying and not failing. Failure is much closer to success than success itself. I don't claim to have the answers. Most of my answers sound more like questions. I don't claim or aspire to be a good musician, writer or philosopher, merely to be relevant to myself and true to that most pure of moments, without judgement by the ego, in when inspiration arrives and innovation takes flight. Alongside our fatal flaw is the spark of ingenuity. We must nurture that spark until it becomes a nova, a new star for some other distant species to peer at from their humble planet and wonder, "Who lives there? What are they like? Perhaps they are seeing us and thinking the same thing at this very moment." Then we will bridge that gap between worlds, meet our brothers and Transcendence may occur. 

Masking Pain Through Humor

I want to defame those who defame,
to trust those who mistrust, defy
those who defy, to unlock doors that
are locked.

Getting high was just a constant in
youth

I just want to rock those who are not; deny
those who deny, to pull it all from the
ether and deny their wall.

Get . Just . Out . Me . Hed

Place comments on an unfinished
project and just leave them there in a
finished product. To see everyone
else as a lifeless husk.

Seeing the future just before it
happens.

A future I can see, a power I can
wield, a fjord I can brave.

A house not to live in, but a house to die
in.
Afraid to know myself.
War is coming
Again and again.
Predicting by merely suggesting.

Black Sabbath - "God Is Dead?" Track Review, or Why Old Dudes Shouldn't Be Allowed to Leave Their Practice Space

Let's just jump right into it. I'm angry. I'm pissed. I had a lot ridding on this album emotionally and if “God is Dead?” is any indicator I'm in for one hell of a disappointment.

First off, what is up with that stupid question mark? Have you ever seen a question mark in a song title before? Is a question mark metal now or something? In fact, the whole premise of this song is quite arbitrary; Is there a God, isn't there a God, etc. These are questions we all ask, and they matter, but I don't like indecisiveness in my metal. I like it hard and pure. Fucking A. Slayer's been dealing with these themes since the 80s and I'm supposed to feel sorry for these old dudes who can't figure their shit out? No thanks. (For the record I don't like Slayer, they just felt like a great example in this moment.)

Second, where the fuck are all those great god damn riffs I've been hearing so much about? The first five minutes of this song are nothing but a cheap knock off of “Black Sabbath” the song with alternating loud-soft verses and choruses and some cheesy power chord-chord progressions thrown in so Ozzy can do his solo-era vocal melodyzing over the top. I mean gimme' a break, I heard this on their last album with Dio and the last two Ozzy solo records, is it somehow better now that they are together? Not really.

Next: The production, oh God the production. Just because Rick Rubin has a Gandalf like beard and scraggly “I haven't showered in a year” hair-do doesn't mean he knows shit about mixing Doom Metal. And let's face it, at nine minutes long and with an average BPM of probably like 80-95, that's exactly what this is. The Doom genre that was formed out of admiration of this great band is now more relevant than the band itself. Good God, they should have called this “The World is Dead.”

The one saving grace here is Ozzy's voice. Yes, I said it, I love the sound of Ozzy's drawling, ominous monotone. He's as musical as ever here in spite of his limitations and in fact is sounding better than ever in his old age what with the lower register and all. Additionally, Geezer's bass in parts is pretty cool. The man knows how to cut a bassline.

Now onto Bill Ward. For the record, I wasn't one who was moaning and groaning when the band and Bill announced they'd be parting ways for this record. I mean Tony and Geezer both put out a decent album in “The Devil You Know” without Bill on drums. But this new dude, Brad something-or-another, sounds so afraid to show any emotion in his playing that it literally sucks the life out of every measure. His playing is so stiff I could've programmed a better drum track. In fact, I might just to show how awful he is. But what do you expect? I mean the guy is probably like half Ozzy, Tony and Geezer's age and he's supposed to somehow relate to what they are doing? Furthermore, he was the drummer for Rage Against The Machine, I wouldn't be surprised if had a Raging (haha, get it?) hard-on every time he stepped into the studio with these dudes, I know I would’ve. He was probably afraid to take risks for fear of angering the "Godfathers of Heavy Metal." But Bill is the same as them in more than just age. He's been through the same trials and tribulations. He doesn't fear or revere the name Black Sabbath in the same way most metal musicians do, he was a part of it before it was anything. With time and wisdom and his indescribable style behind the kit, Bill could've done so much with this. Alas.

Last, those of you who followed Sabbath during their original reunion in the late-90s and early-2000s might remember a little song called "Scary Dreams" that was only played live a handful of times and was never released as a studio recording. Well, “God Is Dead” (I'm purposefully leaving out the question mark this time) is essentially that song. The length is about the same, the key is probably the same, the tempo is the same and the arrangement is absolutely the same. I can't tell you how tired I am of hearing “verse-chorus-verse-chorus-transition-bridge(double time, of course)-guitar solo-outro chorus refrain.” It may have worked on “Snowblind” and “Into The Void” and a handful of other songs, but it doesn't work here in the 21st century where we've heard it a thousand times since. Little known fact; supposedly the band narrowed down from 16 songs to only seven for this album. Yes, “God is Dead?” is one of those songs. Needless to say, I shant be buying the deluxe edition with “an extra disc of unreleased material.”

Well that's about it. I'm not a journalist. I'm just a dude who is very passionate about music and art. Maybe it doesn't get across due to my lack of “reporting” and proper journalistic technique. But I really don't give a fuck anymore. The world has jilted me when I deserved to be heard so here's to a big middle finger at the world. We can do better. We can all do better than this. Sure, maybe God IS dead, but it's starting to sound like good music died with him/her/it (probably a robot AI or genderless alien race, after all).

Metaphysics and the True Self - pt. 1 of ?

Our past history or accumulated experience with a  person can blind us to who they really are in the now. As we get to know them, and spend year after year in their company, we become blind to their constantly changing state of mind and relationship with the world. Therefore, we are unable to see them for who they really are in the moment.

Likewise, our perceived self is constantly changing as we grow with the passing of time and acquisition of experiences. However, we continue to live under the illusion that others perceive us as our conscious awareness perceives itself. These second and first-hand perceptions will always be clashing with one another, and yet neither one is the "true self."

The true self is equivalent to all the current and past perceptions of individuality as interpreted by those who have known us long enough to form a mental image of us as individuals and by our own sense of self consciousness. Combined, these realities come together and form the "true self." It is impossible to for any human to interpret this "true self" of their own volition.

Based on personal accountants of states of enlightenment brought about through intense meditation, psychedelic drug use, or by long-term practice of mindfulness techniques, it might be possible to tap into the "true self" in a conscious state. But perhaps these accounts are actually describing a pass into the realms of unconsciousness, where the true self is more likely to reside in its perceivable form.

Why Journalism Is Shit and Art is King... in no real detail

After graduating, I've given some serious thought as to whether I want to be a journalist or not. Being a journalist, at its core, means using other people's words to tell your own story. We gather quotes and video footage of other people saying or doing things and then assemble them into a nice package to be easily digested by an audience that is groomed to believe it's the only way information can be transferred. But in the digital age and with a new audience of readers who grew up with the internet, raw information is becoming king. 

People of my age group are just as likely to get information direct from the source via Twitter or Facebook as they are to hear about it secondhand from a news outlet. The writer is slowly disappearing from the picture, and for me; a non-natural journalist, that's just fine. Because of this, I've decided to focus more of my attention on the interpretation of information, rather than its dissemination. By this I mean that I want to pursue my passion, music, as much as possible. 

Art is the interpretation of information into something that is as much editorial as it is informational. But it also has a personal-emotional context, making it the ultimate, most powerful communicative conveyor. - Me

Unfortunately, like the journalism industry, the music industry has taken a very big hit from the free distribution of its product online. But unlike the journalism industry, music is not restricted by its own stylistic medium. Music is a blank canvas on which anything can be placed. There are no rules, and this appeals to me very much. If the journalism and music industry’s are to overcome this financial hurdle, they must embrace the mentality of my generation as consumers; product will be free or cheap (Spotify), but will also be plentiful (indie bands/Bandcamp). There's been an insurgence of new bands and bloggers since the means of production became digitized and consumer-available in the early 2000s. In some way this is a good thing for artists like myself who strive to be different and original, but it also dilutes the medium. Plenty has been said about this, but as a guitarist, It's even worse. 

If you look at the "music" section of a news stand at your local Barnes & Noble, you might notice that about half of it is populated by these magazine that have the word "Guitar" as one half of their title; Guitar One, Guitar World, Guitar Player, Vintage Guitar, etc. Ever since MTV started the craze of "guitar player as god" during the 80s hair metal movement, more and more young musicians or people who fancy themselves musicians have been picking up the instrument. This is exactly why there is now a shortage of bassists, drummers, singers, and multi-instrumentalists. According to the mainstream media, guitar is all that matter. As a result, there's thousands of young guys with PRS guitars and Mesa-Boogie amps and five years of guitar lessons who think they are the next Steve Vai. Well it takes more than precise playing and cookie-cutter tone to write music that matters. Be in a cover band, I don't care, but quit diluting the internet with your filth that masks the real artists who are working their asses off trying to get a little recognition. Moreover, stop being of the mindset that you have to be in the spotlight all the time. That the guitar is the most important piece of a band, that lead guitar is all you are capable of playing and furthermore, that you are good at it. Because you are not. Maybe you were supposed to be a kick ass drummer or bassist, but the world will never know, because your mind was corrupted at an early age by the culturally-perceived-hierarchy of musicianship (just blew your mind, right?). 

So in the end, it's not the PRS-touting Mesa-Boogie playing guitarists fault that they suck. It's us, as a society for putting people on pedestals and feeling like we must diefy them (looking at you Slash). And if you wanna get really deep with it, it's just another form of the god complex that I love talking about; people need to feel that there is something supernatural, superhuman beyond ordinary existence that they can aspire to. Because Slash will live on forever through his music, right, but I'll die a nobody because I don't play a PRS or a Mesa Boogie and I only took a year of guitar lessons and a million people don't know about my sound? It's eternal-life man, and it's a fvcking joke.  

Musings on my life so far

When I was around eight years old, my father took me out shooting for the first time. Pistols at the break of dawn in some deserted field-turn-shooting range with flimsy cardboard targets and empty bullet casings scattered all about the ground. This memory has little to do with how my life has unfolded so far, but it is just one of many times when my father impacted my life in a meaningful way, just by showing that he cared.

I am a 22 year old soon to be graduate of the Grady College of Journalism. Over the past two years I've written, learned and been made to question. But after a year-long internship with a small music blog from Atlanta, I decided I didn't want to be a journalist. Still I struggle with this epiphany. Regardless, I decided I would finish my degree and after graduation dedicate my time to pursuing my real passion: music.

When I was fourteen I started being serious about the instrument of the guitar. I practiced everyday until it became almost as natural as breathing. I could always pick up the guitar and let the day melt away. But being a musician wasn't enough, so I decided to emulate a full band using computer software and began singing in the school choir to improve my voice. Over time I became good enough to write and record songs that were almost as good as what my contemporaries were doing professionally (at the age of 18, nonetheless). But music was never an option for me when I came to UGA. At least, not on the surface.

My dad told me that I needed to have a “fallback,” in case the music thing didn't work out, so I figured the next best thing would be music journalism. Through my various internships and local connections, I was able t meet some of my idols and learned a lot about other genres of music. But it was always disheartening to know that at the end of the day I would be thousands of dollars in debt for a degree that I didn't really want.

So I've persevered in my field of passion and my field of academia. I've written five albums in three years, earned a certificate in Music Business from the Terry College of Business, gathered 5,000 twitter followers using targeted marketing strategies, filmed music videos and performed live a number of times. The critics may not always like me (and they usually don't), but I like my music more than anyone else's. I listen to my latest album everyday in my car stereo, on my iPhone (which I am super lucky to have. You know how many people in other countries don't even have phones?) and on my home stereo. On top of that I subscribe to Spotify so I can listen to new music from other artists everyday. I am constantly discovering and analyzing new music. Making it a part of my life, a part of my music, sometimes, and a part of who I am. I've dealt with my endless mind-games and those nasty emotional past-traumas that everybody has – another thing I've learned from meeting people in college – through my art. What could be more important than that?

I've decided that my five year plan will lead me to New York. Brooklyn, to be exact. Something else my father doesn't exactly “approve” of. Or at least, he thinks it is impractical. Sure, it costs twice as much to live there, but I've been in Georgia my whole life. I want to get out and see if it's really like everyone says it is, or if it's exactly the same as it is here. I want to see things for myself. I'm tired of being told how the world is. Through coming to college I've been able to formulate my own ideas about the world, people, culture and our society. My opinions don't fit into some cookie cutter mold because I don't want to fit into a mold. I want to be unique and an individual. I find that thought very enriching.

I notice I haven't really said anything good about my Dad since that first paragraph. Well, he's payed my bills and that says a lot, I think. I've spent his money on books, tuition, food, rent, bills. But I've also spent it on comics, movies, dates, eating out, electronics, clothes, games and musical devices. In spite of this, he hasn't cut me off. He hasn't said “You're no longer my son and I'm no longer taking care of you.” In spite of our differences, he's been understanding, and having witnessed families being torn apart by egos and narrow-mindedness, that's a real good thing.

I've still got a lot of the same problems that I had when I first came to UGA, but being here has forced me to find new ways to deal with those problems that are constructive, rather than destructive. I'm naturally a “the glass is half-empty”-kind of person, but I'm trying to be a “the grass is green wherever you stand”-kind of person – which I just made up, but hopefully that makes sense.

I just lost my train of thought, where was I? Oh yes, to fund my lifestyle and my passion for creating music, I plan to stay in Athens until my lease expires next August. I will hopefully be working at a restaurant, waiting tables, which I have experience in, until I find a better job working in Atlanta or New York. But honestly, so long as I am making better and better music, I don't really care what my day job is. If it pays the bills, then it's good enough.

I'd really like to get married someday too, but that's a whole 'nother story and I'll spare you. But I will say that it involves geeks, metal heads, computers, poetry, comic art, fire spinning, yo-yo contests, flamethrowers, action movies and lightsabers, so you do the math.