Within Me

no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger – something better, pushing right back. Truly yours, Albert Camus

Truly yours

My dear,
In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.
Truly yours,
– Albert Camus, The Stranger

Rebellion, Solidarity, and Justice

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."

The Way of democracy is the Utilitarian outcome of justice as public policy.

Democracy is Camus' rebellion made manifest for the good of all (utility) because from behind the veil of ignorance (Rawls), we would want a rebellion on the behalf of the marginalized because we might ourselves be members of the marginalized. And Camus'notion that we must imagine Sisyphus happy becomes the antithesis of the Stoic call to "keep calm and carry on" while hoping for a more just society.

We owe each other solidarity if we truly want freedom, which shows up in public policy as democracy, even if that solidarity cuts across the lines of privilege and causes us to sacrifice some of our personal present comfort

In so doing, we are freer, even though it might feel at first that we are more constrained.

We must mend what is broken

"We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust, give happiness a meaning once more to peoples poisoned by the misery of the century." -Camus, The Almond Trees

SOPHIA

I drove 6 hours to participate in a round table discussion on Existentialism and Romantic Love. It was absolutely wonderful. Free Will, honest communication, vulnerability, and the price of acting -or not- to manifest fulfillment were discussed in terms of authenticity and what it means to live a life authentic happiness. I met fantastic fellow Philosophers. The round table was lively and thought-provoking; I expect that it will infuse the works of participants in coming years.

SOPHIA Lexington Knights of the Post Round Table: Henri, Derek, Erik, Jedidiah, and Lila

The post-discussion discussion at the pub was classic Philosopher's Free-For-All, with food, libations, and ideas flowing. Superheroes were debated. Makeup and Gender roles were analyzed. The value of capitalism was dissected. A logo was designed.

I think I might need to set up a Dark&Stormy Knight of Ideas world tour sheet. There might be posters. Possibly a tee shirt.

The Artist and The World

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." ---Albert Camus

Art and Happiness

There is no non-creative path to happiness.

Love is the path to creativity.

We must live and create, "in the very midst of the desert." (Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, 1955, p. v)

Bibliophile: Book lovers

Don Quixote was my first love
A crush of windmills at seven.
I named my first car Rozinante,
That faithfullest of steeds
Castaway as trash to everyone else,
A treasure of mine to own.

At twelve, the time of crossroads,
My tilting lover was jilted out of place
By the stranger Albert Camus.

And through the coming of age years,
The voice of Voltaire beside me
As I drove mocked me gently,
Knowing that it wasn't that
I wanted to kiss Vermeer so much
As to smell his hair.

And the great Carl Gustav
Wise and weird, sipping
The collective wine of which
We are all unaware with
Uncle Walt beside him,
Leering and drunk himself
On his on enthusiasm,
His electric body farting
Sparks of truth.
Nobody really speaks of him much though.

And through it all, I still
Flirt Wildely with Oscar, even though
He's better at it and though
We both know it will never amount
To much.
The wink is all.

A Biography in Liner Notes.

My first music, for real, was the music of my parents, the relentless rendition of my mom's Carpenter's Greatest Hits, John Denver, and Charlie Rich occasionally relieved by my father's love of car culture music, especially as voiced by the Beach Boys and the Everly Brothers.

Party music always reminds me of the 70s, from Olivia Newton John and ELO to Kool & the Gang. I floundered around with Asia and America, and I was all pleased with myself when I found Billy Joel's The Stranger and Peter Gabriel (Mercury) after the Carpenters and the Beach boys had ruled my airwaves. Side note: Actually, it was Billy Joel who brought Camus into my world. The Boomers, with their Authenticity Policing, told me I had no idea how cool that album actually was, and couldn't appreciate it, because I had no clue about the novel for which it was named. So I went to the library and checked The Stranger out and read it and fell in love with existentialism and suddenly knew two things with absolute certainty: that I was not alone, and that the Boomers had never read this novel. Shortly after this, I would sneak in to the movie theater to see Blade Runner. As preteen experiences go, these are serious keepers.

And then, through the grace that is the import market,  I discovered Devo and punk took my world away, with the Sex Pistols, Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys. I had some John Cougar-Bruce Springsteen and Duran Duran-Police-Men At Work going on amongst my own personal British Invasion, but then I discovered U2 -- the albums October and War got a lot of play for me in the year before Joshua Tree was released. U2 changed my world, musically giving to me what I had found in Camus' Stranger, what I would come to crave in every novel, relationship and now album for the rest of my life.

It's a little weird to think that I did my first stage dive at an Exploited show before Joshua Tree came out, and that U2 are launching a 30 year anniversary tour.

If the Declaration of Independence is like the liner notes of America, we're like annoying fans that follow politicians into the bathroom and say, "But it says here, 'We pledge our sacred honor.' What's that about?" And people suffer us talking about America because we love it so much. Rather arrogantly, we don't think you own it. We think America is an idea that belongs to people who need it most.