The Tip of the Iceberg

Scratch the surface
No urge to peek beneath it
Capture the moment
That's all there is to it

Create the infrastructure
Inaugurate the roads, boast at the polls
Leave it at the mercy of users and weather
Then patch up the top and fill the potholes

Just the tip, go on, then
Derive your perceived satisfaction
Return again and more
Oh, those inconsistent laws of attraction

You take the plunge, decide to settle down
Because years later, you've found “the one”
The grind of the rat-race takes a toll
The depth of survival quickly eroded the fun

Propagate your kind
Have those kids, set them free
But nurture them, clothe them, indulge them
And stick them out of the sunroof for the world to see

Only the best for their children the parents want
Five-star safety for them they demand
The best food and the best education, of course
Then stick 20 of them and their bags in an 8-seater van

Use sugar, oil, and chemicals
No time for natural, nothing is built to last
So colourfully packaged and distinct for all
Who needs the real stuff when it's is all so fast

Enrol for the best school
Buy the latest laptop and tablet
Skip the classes, watch those movies
In the end, succumb to force of habit

Post those pics, gain another follower
The beach is huge and wide is the shore
Explore yourself, they said, be bolder
Take it all off for a few dollars more

Build the future, build those buildings high
Damned be aesthetic and all detail
The sun is lost reaching for the sky
And then we wonder why they all fail

Fed with lies we gesture angrily at moving images
Showing us only what they want us to see
Enraged yes, but compliant we are tuned to become
But then they tell us that we are free

It's not about satisfaction, just the tip of the iceberg
Nothing less and nothing more
Oh, show we must what all there is
Without that, who's to keep score?

So here today we all stand,
growing increasingly inept
Witnessing first-hand
the solemn death of depth.

Plants

 

The aloe plant sits quietly in the corner.
It needs sun, and water,
only periodically, the latter.
Sun as much as possible. Sure.
The corner it sits in only gets about half an hour of sunlight each day.
But it survives.
Sometimes without water for a week; even two.
The pot is large enough. Just about.
The soil was changed thrice.
First it was too hard. The roots couldn't even grow and settle in.
Second, too soft; the plant toppled.
Third, done right; gravel below, some sand, and then soil.
The plant lives.
It exists. Not dying.
It's got just enough to survive.
But it looks unhealthy,
like it will not thrive there.
The leaves appear smaller, thinner
not thick and juicy as is ideal for an aloe.
But it doesn't complain.
The roots haven't developed enough to grow and strengthen its base.
But they exist. Short. Functional. Enough.
The aloe stays there,
ready to move
to somewhere it can grow and thrive.
That's the dream, isn't it always?
Plants are like people.
They draw their energy from their surroundings.
The energy of the home affects the plant, too.

The Wait

Like thoughts over our good judgement,
clouds graze over the sky so blue
For only a moment, we lose focus of the truth,
as it steals from us the glance of its hue

Oh, may the day never come
when I don't watch on your face the sun rise
Spreading with it a joy for me so true,
it's outdone only when I drown in your eyes

Winter comes and spreads its touch so cold
through darker eve and longer night
Summer may blaze the days away
but your presence through it all brings respite

I've waited long, through heartache's downpour
wondering ever so often time and again
If it's time to give up? To let go and fall free
Or it is just another passing spell of rain

Yet that waiting, the times gone by,
have all seemingly, now, finally borne fruit
For till my last breath of my time here,
in this brief life, I wish to live in truth

Thus I say through all the glory of creation,
and through all the mesmerising detail so fine
Nothing hath bested the warmth of your touch,
and the feeling of your hand in mine

Reality?

There is not just one love.
There are many others.

Not only do we never experience them.
But some we do not even see.

There is the internet.
But it is one among many global networks.

There is the universe as we know it
and countless parallel realities.

There is no single reality.

And we best learn to see
and accept that.

War is Coming

The war is not between left and right
nor between right and wrong.

The battle will rage not between realms
but within this very one.

There are two sides of the same coin
with their differences, their beliefs, their choice of atrocities.
The battle is based on alignment. 

Don't bite the forbidden fruit.
Don't think different.

The battle will rage
between those who use hazard lights when parked on the side
and those who use their hazards going through the tunnel.

between those who seek equality
and those who seek justice.

between those starved of love
and those starved of everything else.

The battle is between intelligence and herd stupidity.

2020 is only the battlecry.

Memory

'Twas a weird day. I didn't feel like doing anything and rather than delving into memories, I decided to look up what was new in memory. Wow! GDDR6 and the move to DDR5 soon. What I noticed was clear. There is no point going faster if it cannot be sustained. "Sustainable" is the new key word and, while many may seem to deny that fact or choose to ignore it entirely, there is no way we're making our way out alive. Everyone's going to die some day. But why accelerate the process? After all we, like memory, seem to have sped up everything to its potential anyway.

Like I said, we have reached immense speeds and now it's pointless going faster. The key is increasing bandwidth and sustaining speed.

For instance, take the Bugatti Chiron. There's no point making a car that goes 500 km/h in a straight line but has to slow down to 200 km/h to take a corner. It's the same with everything. Getting up to speed is good, getting there quickly is better, but sustaining it is the challenge. The key now is to make something that can do 500, but can also corner at 400-450 or more without losing control or having external forces push it off course. It's the same with memory, cars, everything. Personally, in the real world, of course, I'd rather have a car that seats 2+2 and can go from 20-60 in a brief second while consuming zero fuel. I don't mind a top speed of 99 as well...

The thing is, though, we are living unsustainable lifestyle. It's never about cooperation. Rarely is it about sustainability. It's more about competition and one-upmanship. Motor racing is a waste of time, fuel and effort. It created a whole system of wasteful procedures that had people looking at it as a career. Burning fuel to go faster than the next person. Entertaining? At some point it was. Pushing the envelope? In hindsight, that seems completely irrelevant. 

My job had me testing and driving and speeding and, basically, enjoying the sights, sounds and thrills of combustion. Many close to me think I've gone insane. "But you're doing what you always wanted to do!" True. I am doing what I wanted to do. I don't want that now. A V12 is wasteful. A V8 is just as wasteful, as is a V6 or a straight-five. What do we need? Motive force? A 1.0L three working two jobs as engine and generator to two or three electric motors, or a clean-fuel stack doing that job would be just as effective in a 1.8-tonne luxury car as what goes in them now. Oil companies spend millions if not billions sponsoring motor sport at the expense of the Earth and its resources. What am I on about? Go figure. I don't enjoy this life anymore. There's a huge change coming and we best prepare for it.

 

The point is expanding simplicity. Doing more with less will always be enough, if we choose to see it that way. There's no reason to stretch and stockpile if it can be helped. Natural disasters will come and go, but human disasters seem to be getting worse, evolving into potentially apocalyptic forms at times.

We need to be responsible. Humans shed responsibility like a weekly skin. Everything would work, pandemic or not, if people only took responsibility for themselves. But, no. Even that seems too much to ask. If you're ill. Stay home. If you're happy, smile. If you're sad, share. If you have something to say, speak up. Stand your ground, but give other people their space. Freedom for one does not mean overstepping the boundaries for another. Life is short. And soon it won't even be a memory.

Accepting the Inevitable

A very strange world this is. It spits you up. Slams you down. Picks you up. Tries to bury you. Then throws you a lifeline. And then after that glance of shimmering hope, it pulls the plug.

Then again, what works for one isn't a rule. There are no rules. There's no timeline. Anything can happen. Yet, it may not seem as strange at the time, if you're ready. Some people say, "Know what you want!" If you tell yourself you want it, the universe conspires to bring it to you. But, then again, whether you're aware or not, it comes at a price. And this is something you (probably) become aware of as the time of payment arrives.

Empaths are a rare breed. Every life is connected. They know that. They love the world. They love everything on it. Every life matters. They know that. When a forest burns, when animals are roasted alive, when millions of lives are lost, there is an energy that is disturbed within everyone. Whether they pay heed or dismiss the thought is what sets empaths apart from the rest of the human animals. In Star Wars, when the planet Alderaan was destroyed by the Death Star on Darth Vader's command, Obi Wan Kenobi was busy and suddenly stopped, and said, "I felt a great disturbance in the force. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." It's the same with climate change. The Australian bush-fires. Amazon rainforest fires. The deteriorating polar ice-caps and melting glaciers. They're all tests. If you aren't disturbed by any of it. If your heart doesn't skip a beat or feel assaulted, then you just don't get it. You do not deserve it. We do not deserve it.

We all know the direction the world is headed in. We know what we're making for ourselves: slowly digging our own grave. Well, some activities are speeding that up! And we can't do anything. Or, perhaps, won't do anything. The writing's been on the wall for decades. We just didn't take any heed. Rather than watch the people of the world go exactly where they've been threatening to take themselves, some would rather not see it through. Let life be taken away. Some fight. Some eventually give in. It remains disputed. The truth is, or at least it seems to be, that if you really want something, the universe conspires to give it to you. Whether you wanted to fight. Or whether you wanted to give in, and be laid to rest.

These are theories. The truth takes the form of perspectives. Perspectives skewed by everyone and the next. Yet, the real truth is out there. Sometimes laid bare. Yet, we choose to ignore it.

I've lost a friend. One of the best. A good friend. An artist. A musician. A chef. A psychologist. A shrink. A sister. A brother. A guide. A counsel. A blanket. A shelter. An empath. A soul. And one that echoed the same frequency as mine. Nat. You will be missed.

One day, I may or may not see that lucky someone who was gifted the joy of sight. "You've got her eyes", I'll say.

Image credit: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/3/3d/Alderaanexplosion.jpg