There be demons

Isn't a demon a being that is in hell and exists to promote your suffering? Wouldn't stopping you from enjoying yourself while in hell be part of that suffering? What if they had cars in hell, wouldn't demons surround your car with their cars and prevent you from driving? What if there were jobs in hell, wouldn't demons be your boss and your coworkers, never giving you a promotion or a break? In this hell, these demons could torture you by creating desires within you for certain things, then be able to take an active part in denying you access to those desires?

If all of these things are true, isn't this hell and humans are really demons?

The Edward

You don't want that!

I remember back to my college days, we would sometimes sit around and ask questions. You know, talk. I think they all found it boring without a drink in hand, but I thought it was a fascinating look into the minds of humans. Some of the questions and answers I will share with you in hopes that it will illuminate my point.

1) If you could go back in time, when, where, and why? An answer that few of the guys gave was: go back to when Winona Ryder wasn't famous and fuck her. I think that started a chain of guys naming other women that they would also want to do this to.

2) If you could have one supper power, what would you have and why? Common answers were invisibility or mind control. Again, so that they could meet up with some current celebrity and fuck her.

After just these two, I think we can see a theme, but is it the theme you think you are thinking of?

I believe I only ever met one person who said "I would want the power to make certain women fall in love with me." See, in the previous two answers, there was no talk of what the other person wanted. Isn't a definition of rape having sex with someone who doesn't want to? No one else talked about consent. They didn't want the other person to fall in love with them, have feelings, etc, they just wanted sex with that person. Isn't that the same thing as rape? They wanted to have sex with that person's body, not with that person, so she really didn't factor into it.

It looks like I am on the side of the guy who wanted women to fall in love with him, right? Wrong, and I will explain with another example. In answer to questions #1, some people also said "Go back in time and buy lots of stock XXX". What are they really saying? The money that they make off of this purchase would have been someone else's, right? Isn't this stealing? Going back in time and stealing from people who made money when you didn't? So that falling in love guy still wanted her to be someone else - like if he slipped her a drug that made her go wild for him, wouldn't that be the same thing, and wouldn't that also be rape? Taking something that someone else has but isn't giving it to you right now?

The common thread over all of these things is that people really do not want what they thing they want. If one thinks of the consequences and implications, it isn't what they believe it to be. One can not change one thing and keep the rest. If you want a woman (or man) sexually, you really want to rape them. If you want to have made a lot of money from someone but didn't, you really want to steal their money.

This is why I do not want things or people.

The Edward

What are you saying?

I was driving around just a few minutes ago, rocking out to my latest favorite song, Benzin by Rammstein, when I realized something - the volume on my stereo was way too loud and the iTunes audio compression sucks. It just sounds like crap - the bass was pumped too high, and yet it sounded tinny. Beside all of the audio artifacts that were trying to suck the joy out of the listening experience, I thought of something! They were speaking German.

Look around and find someone who is really enjoying some music. How will you know that they enjoying it? They will move their bodies in a rhythmic manner. We can probably agree that when one hears a song that they really enjoy, it is hard to not move ones body to it. So there is a link between what sounds we hear and some kind of physical reactions. Music can make some people cry, laugh, feel empower, etc. So, obviously there is also an emotional aspect as well. But, wherein lies the connection?

I had always assumed that it was the music itself that had these impacts on humans. Then again, I was biased because I can not understand words when sung, so I always discounted the words themselves. In an impassioned speech, the words can motivate people both physically and mentally, so maybe I was wrong. Or maybe there was something else?

I think we would agree on all things up to this point. What I liked about the Benzin song, besides that it was released on a very important day in my life, is that this song would probably suck in any other language than German. German has certain sound characteristics, just like every language does. Operas tend to be in Italian because their words tend to end in sounds that can be stretched (oooooooooo, etc).

The connection between all of this: are some languages better at motivating people? Are certain languages better at just getting to the core of a human being? Not because of the words contained within the language itself, but because of the sounds that are used to make up the language. Just like certain musical sounds can cause certain feelings. And certain accents can cause someone to melt.

Does a guttural language create more warlike people? Ever heard Klingon? Sure, it is a made up language (or so they tell us...), but the people who made it chose those sounds, and it definitely has that feel to it. If Klingon was sing-songy, do you think it would really be the language of a warlike people?

Are people slaves to their native tongue? Is there a language of peace and calm? Could we invent a language that uses sounds that allow focus and concentration - one that could be used for the sciences? In what ways could we change the world if we just changed how we pronounce words?

The Edward

Dexter's Dilemma

That's right, I'm kicking off the new month talking about a TV show. Well, I had to wait until the latest season started before I talked about that ending of the past season.

To catch up - Dexter is a show on Showtime, based on a series of novels. The main character is a serial killer, with a heart of gold. He claims he feels nothing, which is what makes him a killer, though throughout the season, he sure does seem to react as if he had feelings. Anyway, he only kills people that deserve it - other serial killers. He works in the police department and knows how to cover his tracks. No one knows about the real Dexter, except his dead father in flashbacks.

At the end of the past season, we find out that a serial killer that has been playing games of cat and mouse with Dexter throughout the whole season is really his long lost brother, who also feels nothing. He tries to convince Dexter to kill his adopted sister and join forces with him. His brother claims that no one else knows the real him, and that if he told his sister what he was, she would not take it well.

I enjoy the show, but the actual logic contained within the shows world really makes no sense. Dexter's brother makes an invalid point and the monologue from Dexter states that he believes it totally. Sure, he could have someone who knows his dark side (which he thinks is his only side), but his sister knows another part of him. The claim that his good side is fake is unjustified. If he goes with his brother, he would lose a side of himself, something his brother would never understand. Yet, this part of the argument is never really addressed.

What is the point of all of this? Well, if you pretend to be someone else, part of you is that someone else. All things that you do come from some part of you. You have a dark side, a side no one knows about. You take actions to cover it up, hoping no one will see the real you. And there is also a part of you that you want people to see, but no one does and it is frustrating sometimes. You are living a lie...

Actually, you are not. That face which you show is one of your many faces. All of them are real. Remember that next time you think you are acting!

The Edward