On the Nature of Coping and Crutches

At some point, a "coping mechanism" can become "a crutch." But therein lies the rub. Because most people really aren't honest with themselves about where one ends and the other begins.

On the Nature of Bias

Actually, what I think is real, real interesting, is how, when certain groups of clearly biased people whine about not being treated well enough, they more often than not just end up putting their own prejudices and self-seeking tendencies blatantly on display in the process.

Check the Facts, Ma'am (or Sir)

In fact, "the more you know" (or at the very least, the more you even bother to actually check your facts), the less prone you tend to be to buy into and spread all the politically correct BS that most people unconsciously soak up from popular society, and then blindly regurgitate, as if spreading half-truths and misinformation with the greatest of ease were actually a genuine sign of any kind of worldly virtue to begin with.

The Hallowed Halls of Time

Alliteration, assonance, consonance, meter, melody, harmony and rhythm; undying echoes and fleeting flashes of brilliance, dancing within the fleeting, flickering light and shadow of the hallowed halls of Time.

I Have Only 2 Rules for Life

Rule #1: Don't expect anyone to actually care. Just do your thing, each and every day, the very best you can. Just keep getting up in the morning and do your absolute best to do what you know deep down is right.

Rule #2: Try to help others when and how you can, but don't take any crap off of anybody. Everybody's got an excuse, but it's nobody's job to take abuse.

Ode to Science Almighty

Each individual is just a cell within an immense, universal body. The collective good of that body is God. The collective bad is called the Devil (the evil), and a slew of other names not even worth mentioning here.

So some people who enter into our lives nourish and help us grow, while others act to introduce deadly viral strains into the collective. Some people may even grow strong within hateful groups (cell cultures) that, ultimately, amount to little more than a deadly cancer of the collective human soul. And all of this, and much more, is merely the most basic of concepts that theologians have posited for countless millennia now.

But don't worry, one day, Science Almighty will finally catch up, just to finally clarify, classify and assign it all the proper scientific terminology. And then they'll sit back, smile smugly to themselves, and act like they invented it all to begin with.

Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'

Have you ever felt compelled (or simply been given no other choice, by virtue of school assignment, or the like) to dive headlong into a classic novel that everyone says is such a must read, and then found yourself wondering what all the fuss is about? If so, then you definitely know the feeling I had while reading Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness.'

Mind you, I love classic literature as much as the next guy, but for me, much of this particular narrative seemed to simply plod on and on (and on) with seemingly aimless abandon.

And given that the story is told in the first person, by Marlow, a ship's captain, who is constantly oozing all sorts of extraneous details (that may leave one mystified as to how they may or may not amount to much in the final analysis), I was also frequently left wondering why one of the crew mates who are supposedly listening to the story didn't just politely (or otherwise not so civilly) ask, urge, or simply beg the rambling fool to cut to the damn chase already!

But don't get me wrong. In truth, many of Conrad's sentences, nay, even full paragraphs, are worded so eloquently, and with what seems to be such casual ease, as to be simply astounding in their descriptive nature; so it's not as if the book doesn't have its definite strong points. To be sure, there are some truly captivating morsels to be had here, so I suppose I really can see why the novella has reached such legendary status over the years.

My problem was not that I thought that the author was not good at dressing a scene and building anticipation for the inevitable outcome of the story, but rather that many of the peripheral characters described just seem to bleed off the page into a blurry mass of such vagueness that it's truly difficult at times to tell some of them apart. Even more pressing, what is the point in mentioning some of them at all?

But it's still a truly thought provoking classic, Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness.' Perhaps even rightfully so. It's a bit puzzling however, that a document that so oft utilizes the much feared and disapproved of "N word" should still be held in such high esteem by so many modern readers to this very day.

Yet perhaps the contrasting portrayals throughout the story of characters who seem to be either eerily and even ominously "dark" or "light" (regardless of the actual color of their skin) is surely one of the most redeeming and ever transfixing aspects of the book.

One way or another, whether at first fully internalized or not, after reading 'Heart of Darkness,' one may invariably be left with the feeling that something profound, primeval, or even otherworldly has been experienced, if not, at the very least, imbibed.

Thus, it must be the author's remarkably descriptive sensibilities that make this book so astoundingly timeless to begin with. Because let's be perfectly honest, apart from Conrad's vivid characterizations and his omnipresent juxtapositional expounding on the overarching theme of good versus evil, there really isn't much in the way of an actual story here, much less a viable plot.

Yet still, as so cleverly embodied by the larger than life, epic personage of the enigmatic Kurtz himself, this classic book really does seem to be all about the magic and the endlessly powerful symbolism of myth. So perhaps what it really all boils down to is what Joseph Campbell so aptly termed, "The Hero's Journey." For it is surely nothing more than the abidingly instinctual, primeval human fear of the unknown that is actually at work deep within Conrad's enigmatic Heart of Darkness.

So perhaps it can all be summed up as little more than our unquenchable fascination (and our never-ending quest to identify) with, the shadowy monsters that forever lurk way, way deep down within the hearts of all men.

Thus, a humble, otherwise obscure and easily forgotten Polish-British author ultimately seems to forever implore his readers, for all ages to come; where, and to what degree, might the ever-deceptive demons of Darkness, as well as the equally mysterious and all powerful forces of Light, where within us all might they truly dwell?