stark ranting

We're all born with the innate ability to appreciate music. Who knows why it makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, but it just feels good. When the music strikes you just right, a tingly sensation starts in the back of your head and stretches out through your limbs. You feel happy and alive. You can't help but smile. Your head starts to bob in rhythm with the music. Pretty soon you can't stand still anymore and you move your body just because you can. Every movement is yours; the duality of mind and body is cherished.

Technologically speaking, modern society is stunningly advanced, but at the same time it is incredibly bland. Creativity was engineered out of our society. We don't work with our hands anymore. We process the same information over and over and over again. There are fewer outlets for creative energy. That's why raves should be saved. They are a celebration of music and dance... and creativity. A collection of people dancing to express their sheer joy and love for the music. People who believe that a community can transcend the vices of humanity if everyone just sets their mind to it. What a beautiful concept. Why wouldn't you want to protect that?

Did you ever notice how blades of grass will grow in the tiny cracks in a sidewalk? Even after covering the Earth with six inches of concrete, life manages to find a way through the cracks.

Posted by stark at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I got to thinking about our laws the other day and I kept coming back to two issues I have with our concept of law.

1. Laws are a great and wonderous thing. We should all be incredibly thankful that we have them. We'd probably still be flinging poo at each other without them. But... and this is a very large BUT, we need to think very carefully about why we have them and what purpose they serve. Laws exist for us, because of us. We created them to make our lives better, not - I repeat - NOT as a result of divine insight about what is right and wrong. That's called morality. Laws should not be created to enforce a moralistic viewpoint. Why? Because Morality is subjective!! It is not a constant. It does not exist in the universe or in nature. Everything that we believe to be immoral can be observed occurring "naturally" in nature. Your beliefs about what is right and wrong are not the same as mine. In fact every generation that has existed over the past 2000 years has had an opinion about what is right and wrong that clashes slightly with the prior generation. Laws should not be based on such flimsy beliefs. Now don't get me wrong. I think morality is a great thing, but we shouldn't use laws to force people to be good. We shouldn't take money out of every paycheck to give to charity. People have to be allowed to 'do good' at their own pace. Sure, there's people out there who don't get it, but that's why we have Religion. The bible is a manual on how to live for people who aren't born with common sense. Think about it; the concept of heaven and hell was invented to give people a reason why they shouldn't go around sleeping with thy neighbor's wife. People should have figured that out by now.

2. The laws that we have today would work fine if nobody ever broke them. Think about that for a second. Can you imagine a world in which no law was ever broken? I can't. Not the way we exist today. We make mistakes. Sometimes we make BIG mistakes. I've never known anyone that lived to be older than age 1 who went their entire life without doing something incredibly stupid. I'm not sure I can make it through a whole day without doing somthing mildy stupid. That's fine. We shouldn't prevent people from making their own mistakes. I don't know about you, but I never learn a lesson until I go through it myself. The key is that you must be aware of the consequences of your actions and that the punishment will be proportional to the damage. The measure of a crime should not be decided by vague legislation, it should be based on the real impact your actions had on others.

Posted by stark at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)