"Willard is a resident of Birmingham, England. The show is in Manchester. He has a learning disability (Dyslexia), but has talented hands. He makes the sculptures out of dust particles, sugar crystals, etc. Works only around midnight, and can only do some of the work between heartbeats."

http://www.willard-wigan.com/art.html

-
He deserves Paradise who makes his companions laugh.
-Koran

http://b3ta.hnldesign.nl/rsc/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Fg6KFcOsU

If our intellectual part is common, the reason also, in respect of which we are rational beings, is common; if this is so, common also is the reason which commands us what to do; if this is so, there is a common law also; if this is so, we are fellow citizens; if this is so, we are members of some political community; if this is so, the world in a manner is a state. For of what other common political community will anyone say that the whole human race are members? And from thence, from this common political community comes also our very intellectual faculty and reasoning faculty and our capacity for law; or whence do they come? For as my earthly part is a portion given to me from certain earth, and that which is watery from another element, and that which is hot and fiery from some particular source (for nothing comes out of that which is nothing; as nothing returns to non-existence), so also the intellectual part has a common source.

One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it down to his account as a favor conferred. Another is not ready to do this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and is aware of what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know what he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit. As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has caught game, a bee when it has made honey, so a man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season. Must a man then be one of these, who in a manner acts thus without observation.

-Personal Memoirs of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD)

HEAVEN

"Why waste a single moment
thinking of the hereafter?"

"But is it possible not to?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"By living in heaven here and now."

REVELATION

"Any time you are with anyone or think of anyone
you must say to yourself:

I am dying and this person too is dying,
attempting the while to experience
the truth of the words you are saying.

If every one of you agrees to practice this,
bitterness will die out,
harmony will arise."

WISDOM

Wisdom tends to grow in proportion
to one's awareness of one's ignorance,

When you come to see you are not as wise today
as you thought you were yesterday,
you are wiser today.

Anthony DeMello

"God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries. All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with wholehearted devotion."


[DD 5/17/2006]

"You may have no doubt heard the story of the chameleon. A man entered a wood and saw a chameleon on a tree. He reported to his friends 'I have seen a red lizard'. He was firmly convinced that it was nothing but red. Another person after visiting the tree said, 'I have seen a green lizard'. He was firmly convinced that it was nothing but green. But the man who lived under the tree said, 'What both of you have said is true, but the fact is that the creature is sometimes red, sometimes green, sometimes yellow, and sometimes has no color at all.'"

-Ramakrishna, “The Gospel of Ramakrishna”

"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."

"Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning."

"What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else."

"One way or another, we all have to find what best fosters the flowering of our humanity in this contemporary life, and dedicate ourselves to that."

-Joseph Campbell


[DD 5/12/2006]

The Url at the bottom of the page links to a video segment from "Beautiful Minds: A Voyage Into the Brain", a BBC film which explores the "gift" of Stephen Wiltshire, AKA "The Living Camera". Stephen takes a 45 minute helocopter ride over Rome, followed by a 3 day marathon of drawing to recreate the entire city on a 4.5 yard canvas, successfully depicting over 200 buildings to per window accuracy.

"Savant Syndrome is a rare, but spectacular, condition in which persons with various developmental disorders, including autistic disorder, have astonishing islands of ability, brilliance or talent that stand in stark, markedly incongruous contrast to overall limitations. The condition can be congenital (genetic or inborn), or can be acquired later in childhood, or even in adults. The savant skills co-exist with, or are superimposed upon, various developmental disabilities including autistic disorder, or other conditions such as mental retardation or brain injury or disease that occurs before (pre-natal) during (peri-natal) or after birth (post-natal), or even later in childhood or adult life. The extraordinary skills are always linked with prodigious memory of a special type — exceedingly deep but very, very narrow."



"In February 1987, the BBC aired a program on Savant Syndrome entitled "The Foolish Wise Ones." One segment featured a then twelve-year old autistic boy, Stephen Wiltshire, drawing from memory on camera a remarkably accurate sketch of St. Pancras station which he had visited for the first time only briefly several hours before. As the camera recorded, he quickly and assuredly drew the elaborate and complicated building exactly as he had seen it with the clock hands set at precisely 11:20, the hour he had viewed them."

"Perhaps the most striking and astonishing display of Stephen's remarkable visual memory and drawing ability occurs in a segment on a 2001 BBC documentary entitled Fragments of Genius. In this segment Stephen is taken on a helicopter ride over the city of London. After a brief ride, he returns to the ground where, in three hours, he completes a stunningly detailed and remarkably accurate drawing of London from the air which spans four square miles with 12 major landmarks and 200 other buildings drawn to perfect perspective and scale. Words cannot describe the prodigious ability and visual memory that drawing documents; it needs to be seen to be appreciated."

http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/wiltshire.cfm

I've been a big fan of the Flaming Lips since 1995. "Hit's From The Future Head" is far and away my favorite album, harking back to the birth of grunge and my days of Cobain hair and Pendleton shirts; but I've been surprisingly engulfed by their most recent album "At War With the Mystics". Even though the music is more predictable than their last album "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots", they've managed to dig up some lyrical gems, a few of which seem to be hitting a particular chord with me as I process recent revelations about Fandango, the Burning Man culture, and West Coast liberalism in general. (a subject I'll share more about soon, when I'm ready to be more objective).



"the Yeah Yeah Yeah song" seems to imply that we all have the power to act for the greater good, yet we're either afraid to use that power, or we use it in a way that benefits no-one.

"Free Radicals" is pretty self explanatory; a description of a culture or individual waving the banner of individuality, not realizing that they're exhibiting the type of flock mentality they claim to have conquered.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.fileden.com/files/14332/Flaming%20Lips%20-%20The%20Yeah%20Yeah%20Yeah%20Song.mp3

- Flaming Lips "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" 2006

If you could blow up the world with the flick of a switch
Would you do it?
If you could make everybody poor just so you could be rich
Would you do it?
If you could watch everybody work while you just lay on your back
Would you do it?
If you could take all the love without giving any back
Would you do it?
And so we cannot know ourselves or what we'd really do...

With all your power
What would you do?

If you could make your own money and then give it to everybody
Would you do it?
If you knew all the answers and could give it to the masses
Would you do it?
No no no no no no are you crazy?
It's a very dangerous thing to do exactly what you want
Because you cannot know yourself or what you'd really do

With all your power
What would you do?

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http://www.fileden.com/files/14332/Flaming%20Lips%20-%20Free%20Radicals.mp3

-Flaming Lips "Free Radicals" 2006

You think you’re so radical
I think you oughta stop
But you’re going international
They’re gonna call the cops
You’re turning into a poor man's Donald Trump
I know those circumstances make you wanna jump

You think you’re radical but you’re not so radical in fact you’re fanatical

I’ll tell you right now
You oughta change your mind
All of your friends are standing in line
They’re getting tired of your attitude fast
You better move it
When out on your own
How long would you last?

You think you’re radical but you’re not so radical in fact you’re fanatical

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till"

-R. W. Emerson 1841 'Self Reliance'

I'm hoping to utilize this journal less as a rambling roadmap of my life and more as a sounding board to share the humor, creativity, and inspiration that anyones day to day encounters may incite when put under the microscope.

My experiences over past few years have been highly transformational to say the least. I've overcome alcoholism, severe depression, and the emotional isolation which is the natural companion to the two. I also lost my dream job which, I've come to realize in retrospect, was just a drop in the bucket of reaching my full potential. Thankfully I've been surrounded by amazing individuals who've provided support, mainly my partner Alicia, my father Roy, and my stepmother Kathleen, who were able to get me through the worst, and to whom I owe everything for pushing me back into the ring.

Post transition I've begun to read classic & modern works of Philiosophy, Religion and Mythology, in order to forge a new perspective, and give new focus to my life. Emerson's essays were the first I read as the blinders began to lift, they've forced me to re-visit core spiritual philosophies that I had merely touched upon in the past, and almost abandoned. As a result, I've been able to conceal a handful of motivational insurance cards in my cognitive wallet, between the comfort cash, and photo's of the dogs, here are a few:

Liberty, whether it be of the individual or of a culture as a whole, cannot be attained without complete self-reliance.

Nothing truly unique can be created if you're entrenched with the masses.

If you've completed your education without questioning the teachings of your mentor, you'll never surpass his/her greatness.


[DD 5/1/2006]

The link below contains the entire "Self-Reliance" essay. I'm not particularly religious so I took it upon myself to replace the word "God" with "The Universe" while reading. Not so strangely most of the excerpts still pertain, and I'm sure "Vishnu", "Mohammed", "Buddah", and "Manson" would all work just as well, depending on your association. (An observation which opens the door to the theory of a global human perception of the "good" and "bad" nature in everyone, a concept that creeps ever closer as I get older)

http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm

So here it begins,

I was diagnosed with Epilepsy at age 15, after being wired into every skull scanning device under the sun. My brain is like a sieve; I often find myself using "Memento"-esque techniques like post-it note wallpaper, pen & ink messages on my palm, and an Outlook Calandar layout that resembles the great Wall of China, just to remember my name and social security number. I'm looking to post as much I can before the dilantin earwigs march away with the cerebral kitchen sink, and to utilize the journal as a container for influential ideas that might normally slip into the etherial pea soup fog.

I truly hope that the contents of this journal will reflect the continuity between philiosophy, art, and the unviersal mythos that we all hold membership to by merely being an occupant of the planet earth. It is also my intent to get to know you all as well, bolstering debate on, and providing amendments to, the ideas shared within. (Please reply to these posts by pressing the "blue pencil" button on the upper right of the header)

I don't assume to carry the shiny nexus autolocking key device to the secrets of the universe, nor do I know much beyond my local sphere of influence; but I do hope that significant experiences, philosophies adopted, and cairns of illumination stumbled past, will be stored here for the future, serving to chart my course, and maybe, possibly, hopefully, inspire others.

-Dave

(Page Set from Journal/Scrapbook, Fandango Cinco De Mayo party 2002)