The Beautiful Caucus

— Crossroads, will technology serve man or man serve technology? Money is technology, an invention of man, we must use technology to enlighten ourselves, communication technology; language, written word, the printing press, the telephone, the internet… the implications of these. An opportunity. Technology or well being? Well being on the chariot of technology. —

Is it best to dedicate your life to the well being of others, even if it comes at the expense of your own? Or, is it enough to merely save yourself, to master your own heart and mind, and to allow the fruits of self-mastery to spill out into the world as they will? Perhaps it is enough to do either, leaving the accomplishment of both as the ideal. Surely it is best to master both one’s self and one’s environment. The former is called enlightenment. The latter, technology. The enlightened use of technology is therefore the ideal. Enlightenment without technology is impotent in dealing with the problems of mankind en masse. Technology without enlightenment will inevitably lead to the destruction of both ourselves and our environment.
It seems that enlightenment is nothing more than the perfection of self-knowledge. All one ever experiences is one’s self. For an object to be perceived, it must already exist within the mind of the perceiver. The two, perceived and perceiver, are not separate. The cause of the perceived object is necessarily a mystery. It can be deduced, but it cannot be perceived in and of itself. If it were not a mystery, it would not be new, and we would never learn. The fact of the perceived being already part of the self is the basis of learning. We can be confused by the information we receive, or we can accept it as part of ourselves and allow it to act as it will, finding its place among our memories and drawing connections that conscious deliberation would never be capable of seeing. Such is the role of the subconscious.
In turn, when you act, the fruits of your actions cannot be perceived. They can be induced based on prior experience, but they cannot be seen directly because they exist in the future, and the future is necessarily a mystery. If it were not a mystery, we would have no free will. The issue of free will itself is in reality a case of people abstracting an idea from their experience then trying to force their experience into their idea. Such actions are ultimately useless and frustrating. It is best to see life for what it is, directly, instead of abstracting it and trying to fit the reality into the abstraction.
On the other hand, such abstractions can be useful. Knowledge is an abstraction, and technology is the product of knowledge, but knowledge is never the reality of our lives. It is a collection of ideas that reside in past experience. It cannot help us in seeing the moment in which we truly exist. Knowledge has its place, but it has nothing to do with the state of enlightenment, the realization of truth, the development of self knowledge, or our relationship with God. The latter understanding must exist before we can truly use knowledge to its full potential.

On a metaphysical side note, one’s consciousness exists as electric current firing between neurons. Presumably, the arrangement of the neurons as well as their physical environment determines the thoughts that occur, but the actual awareness, the pure space of consciousness, is the subjective state of electricity. When one fully leaves the body, so does the electrical current. The body, therefore, is the animated, and the electricity is the animator. This electricity is present as the animator in all life forms. The subjective state of the organism which can be said to be the sum of all electricity is therefore complete consciousness, or, as some might say, the mind of God.

Feel free to dispute anything you find to be untrue. Never, ever, believe something until you see the inherent truth of it for yourself. To believe something without seeing it for yourself is to renounce responsibility for your own actions insofar as you are acting on the motivation of someone else’s thoughts. Truth is necessarily subjective, but we all live in the same world, so if we inquire into it fully, we will all come to the same essential conclusions. See it for yourself.

Before you begin, because I understand the nature of the ominous tract that follows, I should preface this with a few statements, a procedure of sorts that will help you get through everything if you so choose. First;
The whole text should be seen within the context of the whole text.
If you choose to read it, read it through. Flow through it. It comes out like that and that is how it is intended to be read. If you so choose, on finishing, read for comprehension. Of course, all of this is up to you.
I share these things knowing that it can do no harm. If you choose not to read it, that’s fine. If I share and you read it, that’s great. If I share, you read it, and you get something out of it, that’s wonderful. I share knowing that it can only do well, do benefit hopefully, at any level, on any scale. The writing of it does benefit to me. I remember things better. My thoughts are organized and formed into concise statements, phrases, mantras that are well for me to understand. I can experience them myself as something tangible, something written, and they are committed to memory.
The sharing is the secondary action to the writing. The writing is the secondary action to the thoughts. The thoughts are the secondary action to the conscious analysis of experience. The process;
Life is experienced, analyzed and thus understood, thoughts spring from that understanding, are refined and organized into words, and the words can be experienced. If you choose to experience these words, that’s great. If you find value in them, better. What’s important is the possibility of value. I share with the belief that the potential of value is justification enough.

It is about filling in the gaps of casually understood philosophy in an applicable way to reality, understanding that thought, perception, simplifications of reality (mathematics, science, all analysis and statements on reality) are non reality. Reality is the infinite and infinitely dynamic state in which we live. All things have the potential to occur within the realm of infinity. Whether or not they occur is a perception based on limitless conditions and is of no matter at all.
Everything that occurs, that can be percieved in any way, ceases and should not be treated so seriously as to imply its permanency.
Permency exists only in the relationship of the current moment to its subsequent moments. This sort of permanency operates only under the condition of the accepted interpretation of time and is inherently meaningless. However, understanding such conditions of existence contributes to the understanding of the unconditioned existence (the universal reality) and contributes to a functional understanding of reality.
Understanding “truths” as having no inherent truth but simultaneously being applicable to the human experience of reality is the understanding of the conditioned nature of reality. What you do now means nothing in the realm of infinity. However, what you do now is the definition of your being in the realm of this moment.
At this moment we must seperate the understanding of reality into two dimensions; the infinite and the moment.
The infinite reality of time is non-functional. It has no bearing on the human experience. It is important to understand in the sense that everything that begins, ends. Everything that arises, ceases. Nothing you do now, good or bad, matters in the realm of infinity.
The moment is the only applicable thing to human experiences. It is the definition of experience and it is infinite itself. Truly the moment and the infinite nature of reality are the same thing. I seperate them only in an effort to define them clearly. The moment is where all efforts are focused permanently (or until we discover otherwise). Understanding time as being infinite is key to understanding your complete freedom in every action. It is key to understanding that nothing you do matters at all. True reality is unconditioned and has no limits, boundaries, necessities, belief systems, etc. Once we realize this fact, it is important to understand that we all have complete freedom in deciding our paths. Every action is a choice, and once it is understood that every choice, every action is completely unconditioned in every moment, that there is no necessity to project yourself in any direction, it becomes clear that the moment is the definition of infinity. The moment and infinity are one in the same by the infinite potential of every moment towards any direction, any action, and any choice. The moment is infinity. Life is simple.
NOTE: No action necessitates a reaction, ever. It is the wrong belief in that necessity, the condition, that drives us to reaction.
Once you understand that the potential of every moment is infinite, that each moment itself is thus defined as infinite, you may return to reality. We do not operate in the philosophical realm, and there are certain conditions of societal existence that we feel we must live by. The first step is to develop the understanding that there is no such necessity. What follows is the unconditioned choice you must make out of the infinite possibilities.
What I believe is that all steps should be in a positive effort. What I believe is that if each person understands that they have the freedom to make any choice in any moment, they would eventually come to the conclusion that they might as well operate with a positive effort, seeing as they would want others to do the same. It is true that we want to be treated as well as possible by others. It is logical to say that to expect that, one must treat others as well as possible. It’s the golden rule. There is a thought process behind the logic that leads me to conclude that all human beings are driven towards the betterment of life for all human beings, whether or not they know it and whether or not they are wise enough to understand what is truly good.
Everyone, from demagogue to monk, thinks they are doing good for humanity. Hitler thought he was doing good for humanity. Everyone has the drive to improve the situation on some scale or another. Even a nihilist thinks he would be doing well for existence to end it all. No one operates with the intention of making life difficult for the whole. In some way, everyone is trying to benefit their perception of the whole. If there are people who operate otherwise they are at least not in the majority. The majority of people are interested in doing what they percieve is a benefit to what they percieve is the whole. George Bush believes the whole is humanity operating under a Judeo-Christian value system. He believes he is doing well for the whole by eliminating those threatening it. I believe the whole is all of time, all of infinity, all value systems, all beliefs and religions and life forms and every single little thing that vibrates with such frequency that it manifests form. I believe the whole includes those things that don’t vibrate, that don’t manifest form. That “all” includes all including space and the complete void beyond the realm of the universe. If the whole is considered to be all things, what can there be that threatens it. If humanity saw itself as one thing, as one unified force, humanity would never threaten itself again. To do wrong to any aspect of existence is to do wrong to yourself.
So, You must understand that
Infinity is all realms in all directions for all time encompassing anything that could ever occur in the realm of infinity to any extreme.
We are a part of infinity
When we do wrong to any part of infinity, to any aspect of existence, we do wrong only to ourselves, because we are that infinity
When we do right, we are helping ourselves. We are helping ourselves and all of existence equivalently.
Right is defined by the absence of wrong, from neutrality to positive effort. All is right.
These are only philosophical concepts and how they apply to societal life is the choice made by you.
You see, what I believe in is not necessarily what you believe in. What I believe in is the right that every being has to make its own choices in all matters. I believe that everything should make positive choices. I believe that no one should infringe upon the rights of others to make choices for themselves. What I believe, also, is a mess of thoughts that is practically incommunicable. Words are the expressions of thoughts. They are the simplification of higher understandings that transcend expression. I believe, only, that we are destined towards the understanding of everything, and I don’t even truly believe that.

You can learn how to learn by consciously understanding how and when you learn.

Letter to God,

How difficult it is to begin a letter addressed to a being which may or may not exist! I know, what a rude thing to say, but if our relationship, real or imaginary, is to be significant then it must be honest. Let me explain myself.
Apologies if you already knew, but in case you weren’t aware, I made quite an effort throughout high school to convince people of your nonexistence. You see, I discovered that if you knew all my motivations, all my future, every choice I was to make before I made it, then I could not possibly have free will. In such a scenario I would be a character fulfilling a role, all my choices predestined and therefore not choices at all. Free will would be a delusion. This may be true, but I preferred to think that instead, you were a delusion. If you can’t see my logic, then I doubt your purportedly complete understanding.
In this light I denied your existence. What I realize now, however, is that my argument was not against you, but against my conception of you as influenced by my Christian upbringing. So, maybe you do exist. Maybe I am to you as my cells are to me. I do not know their predilections. Surely I could discover them more intimately if I made the effort. It is within my abilities to do so. Perhaps this is what it means to have God consciousness, to know intimately all there is to know, and to realize, understand, and become the knower. I am this consciousness strapped into a physical manifestation of body and mind, thought and emotion. You, I am willing to accept, are the same consciousness strapped instead into the physical manifestation of the entire universe. Consciousness is only consciousness, regardless of form.
Of course my perspectives and assumptions about you are inevitably trivial. As with any sentient being, if I describe you by your parts I do you injustice. If you think my body is me, my mind is me, my thoughts are me, my actions are me, you are wrong. I’m behind the scenes. I’m watching and letting these things occur and proceed as they wish as best I can. I, in my understanding, am the empty space in which all these things occur. Sorry, you may have picked up on my inclusion of Taoist principles. Why am I apologizing? Surely the God that did not encompass all religious principles and in fact all things and all ideas would be only a Demigod. So, my mind, my body, my thoughts, my emotions, and all experience are this clay pot. Within it, the space which allows it to function as a pot, that’s consciousness. That’s awareness. That’s me if I must insert “me” into the equation. Essentially there’s no me, only consciousness and conditioned experience, the latter of which makes us appear to be different.
So are you merely the empty space in which all the universe occurs? Is this space essentially aware? If space is nothing, and nothing is by definition aware of nothing, then nothing is aware of itself. This emptiness is the disembodied consciousness of me and of you and of all sentient beings. The more I become in touch with this, the more I become like you. Essentially, though, we are no different. I’m just caught up in space time. My being is at present somewhat convinced that it is by nature human, in this body, in this mind. Contrary to that, however, is the fact that physically I will die. This emptiness, the space in which all my experiences occur, cannot die, and as this emptiness is what I most purely am, I will not die.
I find this thought comforting. Sorry if I came across as a little impertinent. I mean no disrespect. You see, I came to the conclusion that if the universe is as infinite as I intuitively imagine it to be, then all things not impossible would occur in it. I do not believe a disembodied being such as yourself is impossible, so I think, perhaps, you exist. I feel like the term God demeans you. It limits our conception of the reality of complete consciousness, complete awareness, and complete knowledge. It limits you to things that have being said about you and associated with the word “god.” If you didn’t understand my intentions before I began, I hope you understand them now. Without any conception of what you are, I do think you exist. It’s easy to think that something which is nothing but nothing, in which all sorts of other things occur, does exist. Even if you don’t exist, I can build an equally valid concept of you in my mind and learn from that. I must just ask myself, what precisely is the perspective of a disembodied being. The more I understand that, the more I understand you. ~ Sam

All work done within the framework of the Beautiful Caucus is copyrighted to the Beautiful Caucus and therefore all members have access to that work. They can manipulate it in any way they please. If any member believes a specific work to be a finished piece, he may submit it to the Beautiful Caucus, and it will be considered for inclusion on future releases. Finished work will be created in two main ways.
1) Personal Work- Each member will have a profile. On his profile he will post music or art that he is working on. These works are to be manipulated by anyone who feels that they can contribute something interesting to the piece. However, all decisions as to what is actually used on the final project are up to the member who created the song. It is basically criticism, except the criticism takes the form of literal additions to the works of art. Members are encouraged to be open and sharing in the spirit of the Beautiful Caucus. If a member’s personal work is included on a release, he will be compensated for the work he has done in an agreed upon way, perhaps as a ratio of minutes to the whole.
2) Evolving work- evolving work will be made available online, and all evolutions of that work will be documented and saved in order to explore the evolution of each song. Any member may contribute to any evolving song they believe they can add to. It will resemble a family tree of sorts. There will be the original framework, new versions of the original, new versions of whichever new version the contributor prefers, and so on. Any member can submit a work as a finished piece. The finished piece will be considered for inclusion in future releases. Finished products in the evolutionary song realm will be the property of the Beautiful Caucus. All members will still have access to each song and may continue to edit it and improve it as they see fit. All members who contributed to an Evolving Work will be cited if the song makes a release, but they will not be compensated. It would be too complicated.

All finished and evolving works are available for symphonic reproduction by the Eternal Symphony of the Beautiful Caucus

The qualifying statement at the beginning of projects of any kind, stating how whosoever the writer is had some surely understandable amount of difficulty in choosing the subject for said project is never of any importance, except in this case, of course, or I would have left it out. The thought process by which I chose my subject has become my subject itself, and thus I begin the ethnography of my being.
I begin with the mind, as it is the chief of all processes under whose guidance and direction my body goes about daily life. Truthfully I have no clue how to formulate an ethnography. My mind is aware of this fact, and has decided it proper to continue anyway, flattering itself with its own subject. My mind is similarly aware of my hands as they type away. In fact, my mind is telling my hands exactly what to write. Not only, though, is it in control of that, it also conducts every strike of every finger, every shift from left to right of the palm, which glides smoothly across this wooden desk, wooden only because my mind has decided to interpret it so. My mind, along with the mind of every other being, is the dictator of all processes, actions, and experiences of the populace of each molecule that forms its respective body. Let’s break this down.
If the mind is the chief, every sense organ is its advisor. The ears for hearing, the eyes for seeing, the nerves for feeling, the tongue for tasting, and the nose for smelling. Of course, no advisor knows himself the complete picture of what it is experiencing. The tongue may taste, but it does not know what tastes good, what is poisonous, what is sweet, or what is preferable to something else. These are all questions the mind must consider. The advisors, therefor, are severely subjugated to the mind. The mind decides when and if they act, what they act upon, and has the final say in interpreting these experiences.
These advisors, though,  have no power without the society of molecules and microorganisms by which their organic kingdoms are maintained. The mind itself is only as powerful as the collection of molecules and electrical signals that collectively form it. The mind is aware of this, of course, as the mind is aware of as much as it chooses to be aware of, and in light of this fact, in the best case, it is a benevolent dictator, an enlightened despot. The mind sometimes, though, becomes drunk and makes choices that are injurious to its people. An arm may be broken, an elbow scraped, or a toe jammed. It may incite riot, a revolution. The body may become sick with misuse. In the worst possible case, the minds kingdom may altogether fall apart. If the transgression is too much to bear, the chief and his people may die.
If the mind perceives an enemy, he may wage war against it. If it is disease, he will send the white blood cells. He may burn out the offender. However, he may get carried away and things may get too hot. Again, the kingdom may fall. Hopefully, if the mind is a particularly clever one, he will enlist the help of allies; doctors, medicine, good nutrition, vitamin c. No mind is aware of all the allies it actually has. Of course, if the mind is a great one, he will have built his kingdom to be impervious. His national guard, the immune system, will allow no potentially dangerous foreigner to enter.
If the enemy is external, he may wage war with his army. He may swing his fist. He may kick with his legs. He may engage the enemy with heavy artillery, wielding knife or gun or bomb or tank. Hopefully, however, the mind is a passive one, content in the service of his people.
The mind, with all its power, carries heavy responsibility. He must keep his people warm, free of disease, clean, well rested, in good shape and in good health. The list of responsibilities continues to those the the mind itself isn’t truly aware of. Consciousness, the ability to be aware of something, is not the only things the mind can do. Its powers extend far beyond. These subconscious actions the mind does out of habit. It does what it must do for maintenance. However, if the mind is truly genius, he can develop an awareness of these actions. Some minds can heat their bodies with conscious will alone. Some can survive, hardly clothed, in freezing temperatures. Most minds, however, are not so advanced. However, it is not the mind itself that is lacking, it is the mind’s will to develop such awareness of its own processes. The mind conducts these processes already. It is a question of what the mind sets itself to accomplish.
Second only to the mind, as the mind is in control even of its process, is the heart. The heart has been given the task of feeding the whole of the mind’s kingdom, including the mind itself. Without the heart, the mind and its people would starve and die, but without the mind, the eye would not see food. The tongue would not taste it. the throat would not swallow it. The stomach would not digest it. The intestines would not derive nutrients from this food, and the blood with which the heart feeds the whole being would be lacking in substance. The health of the entire kingdom would suffer. The mind is aware that its survival is completely dependent on the whole of its kingdom, especially its heart. If the heart dies, the mind dies too without exception.
The mind conducts foreign relations with other minds by reforming previously understood words and concepts into new, applicable concepts, and voicing them with its choice of tone and pitch and timbre by means of the lungs, which, under the mind’s direction, take in oxygen and disperse it into the blood. The mind may also communicate with its hands, its hips, its choice of clothing, or anything the mind does as a conscious choice that is visible to an outsider. All there is that is possible to experience is a form of communication. The mind, if it is aware of this fact, may communicate well. It may arouse its desired reaction. The more it is aware of, the better it can conduct its activities. The mind’s only true responsibility is awareness. All other things are either taken care of out of habit or are truly unimportant.
My mind, as it communicates with your mind, is aware that it is not advanced enough to explain to you in perfect clarity the exact thought it is trying to convey. It has not learned enough words. It has not an understanding of biology so complex that it is aware of all the processes it conducts. It simply does not know what it knows. It hopes, however, that your mind has a different set of understandings. That you know other things than it knows, and that hopefully it knows a few things you may not have considered and in some way may fill in some minute gap in the range of potentially understood concepts, which spans on and on to infinity. My mind is a chief that wants all chiefs to work together for the understanding of all things, as it believes that the destiny of all mankind is the understanding of all things. It understands, too, that this belief is something itself has conjured up, and thus has no substance beyond the context of my own mind. My mind is tired, and it hopes that in some way its exertion has exerted your mind too, because this, for some reason my mind could be aware of but isn’t by means of not directing its attention towards the question, would give it a petty sense of gratification. All minds are autonomous states. No mind is more capable of gratification than any other as much as no form of society is intrinsically better than another. It is an issue of what you make of it, and as such, make of this as you will.