#038 - Rules - pt. 1

NOVEMBER 2023

It’s funny to me how and when inspiration strikes. It's funny because it could be inconvenient. For instance, you could be about to be placed in cryogenic sleep for hundreds of years after inventing a climate-saving device that will also solve world hunger. Too late, though. Inspiration gone! Frozen like a time capsule - generations left eating soylent green in shorts and Crocs! But perhaps when inspiration is prioritized and the moment seized, then with unexpected results, what happens? You should know my feelings about doing the unexpected. I like doing unexpected things. In the showbiz sense, always keep your audience guessing what comes next, and most importantly, keep the paying masses on the edge of their seats with captivating feats. Hopefully, with pyrotechnics and lighting timed to emotionally charging music. 

I say this because I haven’t decided on a topic for this journal, and while I only share these with my friends, should they always have a topic? Or should they be endless ramblings of my childhood, life lessons, chance meetings, and other gathered adages of thirty-five years of life? Perhaps this writing is the preface. Any good omnibus of thought should have a document warning the reader of the contents of the journey on which they are about to embark—or at least the writer's comic styling and prose style. To warm the reading waters. I use a lot of adage and metaphors. It’s Southern American tradition, after all. 

But prefaces are rule primers, an introduction to the writer's rules and their prose. Poetry is a highly technical art with many rules based on the type of poem, and writing has grammar. That is the theme of this blog: rules. But first, a fun preface.

Preface.

Academic prefaces are done by recognized scholars in the paper’s field of study. If the word preface is off-putting - I say many off-putting things and tend to tangent. Back to prefaces. Typically, the publisher will look to their roster and see if any best-selling, more seasoned, less crazy in most senses, and more vetted authors are willing to risk placing their name or names on the cover. Usually, this is done as a ploy to entice readers of the preface’s author’s book to take a chance on something they may hate and pass along to loved ones at Christmas time. Rarely is an author allowed to preface his collection with poignant mind-warmers unless you happen to be Mark Twain. Something to engage the reader and allow them to prepare a place to receive the timeless art of writing in the form of reading words drawn together on paper. A poem or a song to enlighten and inspire. To set the stage and the mood for the spirit to move. 

In the spirit of the late Stephen Sondheim, an invocation not just to the Christian God but also to the ancestors of writing. An invocation to the cuneiform chiselers of stone and endless thinkers. The Aristotles and Platos. What about Socrates? Who else could bend the mind in such a way as to ask endless questions of existence? In the Christian sense, we must ponder the existence of God and our (humankind’s) combined relationship with the divine through Jesus and his Spirit. 

It is up to us humans to interact in often mysterious ways to encourage each other to believe and inspire greatness in one another. This is a core tenant in life. When humans had little free time to think and to create, generations were lost in their purpose - only to create a better world or life for the next. Only focused on survival or procreation. In the most simplistic or distilled way. Like grains of sand, the current generations were formed, and now, through our combined historical hourglass of existence, we have the power to escape this planet for the first time in human history through manned spaceflight.

But all of this is possible through the rules and laws governing most humans.

Journey into your inspiration.

It is truly magical what inspiration can do. It’s beautiful what insomniacs can create at three in the morning. Or what a bunch of connected musicians can create in a band. It’s also funny when God and Christianity are in your life, or perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but life becomes so hilariously connected. Maybe it’s just how the world has been created for us. So, back to preface a collection of journal entries with a short and kitschy, slightly whimsical look into the psyche of a perhaps deranged persona. Joking. I’m not deranged. You are for reading this far. 

At the time of this writing, I live on the outskirts of midtown Atlanta and am constantly surrounded by people. A lot of these people do some of the craziest things that I have ever witnessed in my life. You have to get used to it. But then this complacency - is it the best option? I’m stubborn. It is a city's attitude to be too busy to care, but also, a city can band together and fight for a better city. Right? Especially for the greater good? When I witness stupidity, my patience goes way down, and when I see rules being broken - my fuse becomes minuscule. I become a destructive person, but don’t we all? We all tend to become situational Karens, but perhaps I’m getting ahead. This is just the preface to the rules, and I have so much to discuss. 

So, I like rules. Rules hold people accountable. Rules can be bent but never broken. Rules are changed and shaped over time and, through precedence, become jurisprudence. Laws are rules enforceable by the power of a system of governance. And before I lose you to the f-the-police crowd - every one of us feels vindicated when justice is served and defined as poetic. This is why the Karens exist to take advantage of life's stupid rules. It is because rules are being followed, and everyone is accountable. 

The universe's rules govern life, and we are all governed by unseen rules or laws of gravity and force generated by the sheer mass of our planet. The rules are there for a reason. Lines on the road keep us in our lanes; without these, there would be nothing to distinguish right of way or who has what right to what lane. In this precarious world, accident cases would be thrown out because there would be no clear way to determine fault. Or at least the sacred and timeless art of the insurance company would be a profitless endeavor.

But back to the preface. 

But what is the best way to begin this collection of writings? Or should I only preface the rules of grammar and writing? I’m no grammaticist. I routinely use writing aids such as Grammarly to enhance my writing, and you should, too. But rule number one in this modern world should be that writing is always from my heart or cited sources that relate to my situation. I will never use AI to write my thoughts, though AI does help develop more fluid sentences. I will not use AI, at least not for this. Maybe for that tricky email to my boss that I don’t want to sound too condescending or to that annoying person that you don’t know how to let down easily.

Let the robots take the guesswork out of that stuff, but writing should always be from your heart and what you know. That’s rule number two. Good writing is emotional, and the robots aren’t there quite yet. Maybe soon, though. My mind wonders what problems they may be able to solve beyond complex mathematics and what problems of humanity we will throw the AI’s way. Perhaps we will remember a world where the Internet was unregulated and free, but that world is in the past.

I could continue listing every pet peeve and thing you will encounter, but I should take a step back from fueling the insatiable beast that is my ego and get on with it. These pages contain collections from my life, starting when I decided to write down my thoughts in a journal folder. They are loosely sponsored by Google Drive. Thank you, Alphabet. Now, they are published for the world to see in a blog format. Perhaps some audio recordings may be helpful for the auditory learners out there in the future.

This is also sponsored by religion, and the religion I belong to is Christianity. I don’t pretend to know all the esoteric and secret rules of becoming enlightened, only that I believe in a creator God who loves humanity, his son Jesus, who came in human form and who left his Holy Spirit for guidance. Also, to give pastors and Christians inspirational words of encouragement. Some of my words are birthed from this spiritual inspiration. But back to the rules.

Cult rulers.

So I become angry, yes! I am sometimes livid to the point of a boiling passion when I see rules not being followed by others or what is sometimes excused as ignorance of said rules. But if I were to act with the same ignorance, would I not attract the same attention from someone who would be my replacement or the antithesis? There’s a great Rick and Morty episode (S6E6 - JuRicksic Mort) about dinosaurs that embodies the principle of duality. In this episode, altruistic dinosaurs attract the antithesis with their actions, which are destructive planet-ending rocks. The two must coexist to balance our universe. In Physics, every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. In Christianity, there is a duality between good and evil, darkness and light, and ultimately between God and Satan.

It then becomes this issue that no matter who or what you make better, there is always someone to take your place to destroy that which you have created. In this sense, humans are replaceable to a certain point. Founders, transformational leaders, or legends buck this trend, and I disagree with the replacability of humans. Good leaders operate outside of the ignorance of the replaceability of the status quo. This is the power of irreplaceable individuals. The downside is the cult-like followings of said leaders, but if the cult becomes a force of good? Then what? Are you replaceable? Am I? Was Steve Jobs? Was Walt Disney?

All ego aside, because a thought like that requires a considerable ego, let’s explore that path for a second. For real. If you were the cult leader - your life would be pretty okay. I know what you may be thinking. This guy is a step away from Kanye. I’m not endorsing starting a cult to achieve your goals or find happiness unless you are Kanye West. Then, long live Jeezy - have a blast. But what if you were this enigmatic leader? What if you were Taylor Swift? What if you had the most followers on the most popular platform by using whatever metric the masses deem acceptable? What if every word you said, every article of clothing you wore, and where you went was documented by a barrage of paparazzi and loyal and rabid fans? This is the cult following that good leaders espouse. This unquestionable loyalty from followers and trendsetting abilities, not just person to person but in a broader market outside of themselves. And the majority of the time, these leaders are not household names. 

Now, let’s place ourselves in a different position. You’re not this leader - you’re their right hand. What advice would you give to your former self? If you were the person who was influencing the person who was influencing masses and throngs, who ultimately was just you a second ago? Interesting exercise in introspection. What would you tell Taylor Swift to believe? What rules may you place to avoid veering off the superstar highway? If you were a cult leader, would you follow the rules?

What do you Believe?

For every celebrity, social media influencer, or politician, there are dozens, if not hundreds, in support roles. A corporation's president has just as much, if not more, support staff than the Presidents of most countries. The British Royal family is famous for having dozens of servants and administrative staff. Churches have volunteer armies, and Non-profits have the same. 

Anyway, what if this person who sat at the right hand of the enigmatic leader was a rule follower who detested rule-breaking? What if the charismatic leader was the same? In a good cop / bad cop situation, the good leader will divert the negative attention to the support staff to maintain an excellent public image. In America, we have rules, too, but most Americans avoid following them or do not understand their strictness or enforcement. This goes back to rules, which can be bent but never broken.

So what are your rules? What do you believe when there are rules involved? Does it change beliefs? Are we more prone to believe in Santa Claus and do good things because we are rewarded with good gifts? Are we more prone to believe in Jesus to invoke the same manifestations? I used to do this as a child, but most Christ-followers believe with child-like faiths and are more likely to associate Jesus with a fictional character than the actual historical person. I wish to find a study that supports this, but perhaps our friends at Barna will research it. 

But back to belief. What do you personally believe, and what rules do you follow? What are pet peeves or things that other people do that bug you? Identifying these and seeing how you react or respond to the rules in your life will offer some good self-meditation. For me, I hate doing anything twice and get so pissed off when people do not follow basic traffic rules. These two pet peeve rules will make me snap into a primal state of being that not even Maslow could fix. But identifying, knowing I can't control the weather, and moving on is the best way to fix these situations.

However, I'm always getting ahead of myself—more in part two.