April 6, 2005

• ElectricPoetry: The Outline for Existence

  

  

   

  "A Beginning Again"
  Poem for the New year 2003
  the outline for existence
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  January 19th, 2003 9:00-10:00 p.m. pst

   

  Accomplishment.
  Lack of same.
  Many ideas, few distinct points to make.
  A big point to make, but hard to put into words.
  Words give meaning, but the look of the words sometimes gets in the way
  And then the words tend to lose meaning.
  Too many words.
  Too many ideas.
  Too few points that ever seem to be made.
  There is a purpose to and a meaning of existence.
  Thoroughout existence,as one experiences the gift of life, one often wonders if he in fact exists.
  This is the unwritten cosmic question.
  Every time I approach the page, or the screen.
  Every time I contemplate the preaching of an answer to all of these questions mankind harbors.
  Every time I think about teaching all that I feel I know,
  And every time the full blown and restless impetus forces me to open the program and type.
  I know I will begin again in earnest, but
  I know I will type useless drivel as always with useless abandon.
  And the point will never get made.
  And as I type,
  And as I say,
  And as I repeat,
  Over and over and over again.

  Accomplishment?
  Simply to repeat ideas which never seem to make sense even when that attempt is made.
  Or to formulate an outline for existence, to which one can refer when one has questions.
  Funnel the few distinct points into a handbook for life.
  That was the plan all along, I would gather,
  As when I gather my thoughts,
  And outline this existence into these words,
  And hope, at last to make that universal connection
  Which transforms the mere words into inspirational gospel.
  And starts me on my way toward explanation,
  For myself and for mankind.

  The outline in verse:
  A poem, like the other poems for the New Year.
  A beginning again, like all the other beginnings again,
  To get on track,
  Outline the imperitive,
  Make a resolution for humanity that humanity can read and understand.
  There really is a point, and there really is a way in which
  everything can all be boiled down into a few major themes and concepts.

  If I could, with my stifled abilities to communicate,
  Distill the essence of these myriad concepts,
  And inform the masses of humanity of my understanding,
  Then I would be able to expound with infinite knowledge of this existence,
  But if I keep rambling, and losing the thread of consciousness
  Which, by running through us all, connects us and disturbs us,
  Then I can tap into that understanding,
  And upon reading the simple words I write,
  Anybody can unlock the secrets of the universe.

  The problem with my outline so far is that it hasn't been written.
  So here goes.

  Evolution and History
  Religion and Dogma
  Politics and Society
  Conflict and Power
  Happiness and Understanding

  These are the basic Themes of Importance.
  At least right now,
  As I write.
  These are the separate repositories into which I will pour the knowledge of the Universe.
  What is on my mind, basically, is on yours too, although you might have guessed it,
  But didn't believe it.
  To understand the answers, one needs to understand that the questions existed
  Even before the mind held the capability to ask them.
  Once the mind began grasping the ability to attempt explaining existence
  The mind split into indecision and conflicting ideology.
  Words can only attempt to explain, and someone needs to read the words,
  And pass along the message.

  My message will be written in this new year of 2003.
  The Outline begins with the themes of importance,
  And includes the Realizations and the Poetry
  Which attempts and has attempted, to pare the
  voluminous cacophany of my understanding of this existence
  Into a few concise verses.
  As the years pass
  The verses repeat these concepts and themes over and over and over again.
  And this is one of the keys to understanding.

  This is my Beginning Again.
  I hope I share my thoughts with you properly this time around.

   

  
  "Evolution and History"
  Poem for the New Year 2003
  The Outline for Existence
  July 19th, 2003 10:17 a.m. pdt

   

  Energy
  Geology
  Life
  Evoulution
  History

  These are the building blocks of existence
  As we know it
  As we understand it
  And as we are living it

  At first, all is universal
  As before,
  And for all time.

  Geology lasts for a long time
  And sets the stage for life
  Life began from energy
  And life evolves
  From one aspect of existence to the next.
  As life, and mankind in particular, lives,
  and dies,
  and propogates the race of man into times unknown
  and uncertain
  History is written
  For the good and for the shame of mankind.

  First building blocks of understanding

  Energy is vast and formless
  Precise and volatile
  Creator and destroyer
  Unharnessed
  Or perhaps just reinventing itself
  Energy crystallizes into spinning orbs of light heat and matter
  An infinite number of these orbs,

  These stars and planets,
  these building blocks of the tangible universe
  These orbs spin and cool and solidify,
  Our Earth cooled,
  And the long process of formation,
  For landscape and for mankind,
  Began with an ironclad dichotomy of purpose.

  Earth, Gaia, Mother Nature,
  and
  Man, Humankind, Intelligence, and Naivete

  Life as it evolved on Earth gives the human race the edge.
  An edge so sharp it can cut the very fabric of the planet on which the human race exists.
  And at the time I write, this cut is fairly deep, and the rift has began to change
  the planet.

  Evolving with the speed of ignorance, humankind
  Began to believe he was smarter than everyone else, including his neighbors,
  Who always disagreed.

  History proves one thing.
  There were a couple or more paths travelling through history which
  in retrospect shouldn't have been taken by anybody,
  And these paths have driven the babbling incoherent explanations of the
  Reasons behind why the masses travelled upon their disastrous ways
  Into an unbearably doomed vision of a divided future,
  Where nobody ever agrees.
  In fact, the powerful have always been able to decimate the unbelievers.
  History proves this.
  Yet it's always repeating itself.

  A cosmic lesson which never gets learned.
  It's about time the teacher comes back into the classroom.

   

  
  "Religion and Dogma"
  Poem for the New Year 2004
  The Outline for Existence
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  January 29th, 2004 6:47 p.m. pst

   

  Energy
  Weather
  Time
  Calendars
  Monotheism
  Subjugation
  Elation
  Conflagration
  History

  These are the stepping stones of faith
  As have been practiced
  As have been trodden
  As have been fought over

  Mankind was both
  blessed and cursed
  With curiosity
  And a penchant to disagree

  Book I

  Graced with a
  Finite amount of wisdom plus the
  uncontrollable yearning for answers.
  This fueled man's natural curiosity
  The concept of time came first
  And then man's curiosity was
  Fueled by fire.

  It really all began with the weather
  Mankind, from his first babysteps through history,
  Knew that the key to knowledge lay in the
  Patterns of the weather.
  Time and weather
  Weather and time
  Those who understood the patterns in the weather
  And the cyclical nature of time
  Ruled the early races
  And gained the greatest respect

  Of course these were the "Elders", who were those oldest.
  Of course, they had seen these cycles for themselves,
  And could teach the masses of their knowledge
  They became great men, the fathers of prehistory,
  And in time great men are worshiped For their knowledge
  And those worshipped are soon revered as prophets.
  Prophets who have a tendency to become gods.

  Early man had great respect for his gods.
  Early man worshipped with feral abandon, and bloodthirsty relish.
  Early man gave every unexplained idea it's own diety
  Mankind also had no patience for famine or flood,
  Weather again.
  Playing tricks.
  Not to be fooled by Mother Nature, mankind paid homage to his dieties,
  Building larger altars on which to slaughter sacrifice both beast and brother
  Until his gods were satisfied,
  And then he could rest better.
  Early man thinned his population regularly in the name of religion.

  Book II

  
  Organized Religion soon overtook the planet,
  A god of every flavor,
  For mankind to savor.
  And then a wise scholar in Galilee
  Convinced twelve acolytes of his special gift
  Soon a sect of one of oldest monothiestic faiths
  Would split apart and become the world's most powerful religions
  And a church that ruled the secular world for centuries
  Imprinting it's witch hunts on the unbeliever
  Other holy faiths concurred with and followed
  Until it seemed there were many many gods again
  And all these gods were the only gods to the poor faithful who worshipped them

  After a while, belief in one's gods became traditional
  Tradition was passed on,
  And when a prophet was stepped upon at home
  He could always find a better place further west to preach.
  Religious intolerance never found a place in any dictionary though
  And that's the parable and the problem with history.
  Someone doesn't tolerate another's faith,
  And for some ironic reason they're neighbors who both claim the land
  As the land of their forefathers and their religious symbology

  Now the prophetry is myriad, preaching to millions over the airwaves,
  Now the end is near.
  Now is when mankind should realize he's been killing himself in
  the name of religion for far too long.

  But then there's always the weather.

  to 7:39pm

  ---

  

  Behind the Poetry: It is now April of 2005. Almost time for another birthday (MayDay) and past time for another entry in the "Outline of Existence" series of poetry which began in 2003. As you can see, the first poem, "A Beginning Again", which alludes not only to the Millennium, but to my "electronic reinvention" when I entered the WebWorld in 1997, charts the course of the subsequent poems. The second and third poems, also presented here, detail "Evolution and History" and "Religion and Dogma". The next poem, which is about four months overdue, is
  "Politics and Society", followed by "Conflict and Power" and the final poem, "Happiness and Understanding". The last three have not yet been written. (But are part of the "Outline" from 2003. This is the longest poem series I have written (yet to write) and serves as a companion in poetry to my prose "essay" titled "History." and also to the earlier "Books of the Realizations" and my complete works of poetry, both mentioned in the first poem. I made the "composite image" and "title card" tonight. The clouds background on the image is not mine, however, so I will credit Sandy (Rouxlette Wheel) with the image.  Hopefully soon I will write the third entry in the series. Those of you who have been reading (between the lines) of this blog have probably noticed that everything in the AllThingsMike Universe is eventually connected, just as are we all in the Universal Mind. 

  2005.4.5  Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool.

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