A friend of mine once misheard someone say to me “so then the joke’s on you” as part of a now forgotten conversation. My friend, stoned out of his mind, seemed to think that this statement somehow meant that I had a “joke” on my physical person or in my possession.

He continued to argue that the expression “do you have a joke on you?” would be understood by most people and that it would actually be a good expression to use in daily life. The friend and I who were having the original conversation could not let this abomination of an expression go unchallenged. Without going into specifics about how this expression could ever be used in actual conversation we went to work explaining to him that a “joke” while a common concept can never in any circumstance be possessed physically by any person, place or thing.

We explained that while yes someone could have a piece of paper that had a joke written on it, that piece of paper is not a joke without someone to read it. Therefore there is no possible way for someone to actually have a joke “on” them at least in the sense where we are talking about a singular joke (instead of perhaps “the” joke as is said in the common expression that started this whole fiasco).

People often times have trouble distinguishing a concept from a physical reality. Most people will tell you that a piece of paper with a joke written on it is a joke, when in fact it is nothing but a piece of paper until someone observes it and interprets it as a joke. Its odd that we treat the physical and the conceptual so similarly when logically they are so different. Each presents itself as equally real in our minds so our minds treat it that way, it is only once we step back and realize that our mind is creating everything, even our notion of “reality,” that we can truly get a glimpse at what is going on.

What do we classify as natural, and what do we classify as man-made?
Zoloft’s elements all come from the earth and were all put together using tools which all come from elements of the earth. Is it natural to take a pill and disturb your hormone grid? When do human actions beget nature and when do they beget something man-made? In enough time, the elements of Zoloft could have come together and created a “natural” substance to affect hormones, wo why when humans rush the process is it no longer natural?
Man has the ability to affect nature and is himself nature, so what the fuck is man-made? I don’t see anything unnatural about nature reacting with nature.
The difference may seem arbitrary, but I think the distinction has a lot to do with how people view something. It is my impression that man gives priority to the natural.
What about unnatural sex acts? Some people get off only after beating up their mate. How about necrophiliacs? Banana slugs are hermaphrodites who have pensis’ twice the length of their bodies, and reproduce by nearly strangling eachother to death before ejaculating. All these things can conceivibly be called unnatural, yet they are clearly natural.
What about plastic…I think I can conclude this is unnatural. You use a plastic cup, and you throw it away after using it once, but you forgot that plastic isn’t disposible. That cup you nearsidedly destined to the dump, will still be sitting there for time. Surely this is unnatural. Nature is a cycle, I am a cycle. Is plastic a cycle? Probably is.
I’m too stoned to continue.

The greatest mystery of all that people have been pondering since the beginning of conscious thought is “why are we here?” But perhaps the idea that our existence needs an explanation, or that there is an explanation, is a total fallacy. We’re here, we’re living, we don’t need the instruction manual to play the game.

And if we ever did figure it out than the game would be over. If we understood the secrets of this universe then this universe would be contained inside our heads and then where would we be?

We are computers.

Advanced, complex, evolved computers with programs that learn and interpret. Well oiled machines that have functioned pretty well for the past 10,000 years or so. Its hard to think of a human or a being of any sort as a machine but if we look at the constituent parts its hard not to make the comparison. Or bodies are organized so that no one part has to preform every task necessary to its survival but rather every part contributes something to the larger function of our bodies in the world, no matter what it is.

Every function of our brains is part of a complex, ever changing program. As we ask more and more questions about ourselves we begin to understand overreaching concepts as to how our brains function, how we react to certain familiar situations, how we feel towards certain types of people, what makes us laugh. As we grow older we begin to know our own program as realize how it came to be the way it is today. Despite its arcane complexity the human brain still is a program and one that can be deciphered. There is a program for love, hate, jealousy, joy, faith, and laziness waiting to be deciphered.

Humans with all their ingenuity cannot be blamed for not deciphering millions of years of evolution, but with the constant exponential expansion of the world’s knowledge base we cannot deny that we will eventually figure out the intricacies of the human being. The knowledge is out there somewhere, the secret lies hidden somewhere, and it begins with one person’s need to find out more.

Don’t expect anything. It’s not worth it. I know when I try to expect something, I’m wrong every time. I’m not talking about whether or not the newspaper will be on my step every morning. I mean emotions. You try and guess how you’ll feel, and you will fall flat on your face. I spent the last 3 days dreading this moment, avoiding this moment, delaying this moment. But you know what? The moment came and went, and I was dead wrong in my predictions.
I’m talking about my love life of course. I thought letting go my love, my beauty, my crutch would destroy me. But it has only made me stronger. I feel more like myself again. I feel like she is more like herself again. I don’t regret any of it, I loved it, I learned from it. We just couldn’t keep it anymore.
I just took a walk and my campus was different than it was a couple of hours ago. It’s calling me and having a conversation with me concerning our potential. I was shut out from this conversation before because I was never alone. My girl was always there in spirit to co-decide.
Just don’t be afraid to take steps and change your life. If you believe in a change and stick to it, you can actually change your day to day life in any way you want. Single life will bring on its own set of problems, but atleast they’ll be my own problems and not problems that not only bring me down but bring a person I love down as well.