The 67th Post

I must be thankful to all of the people who pass through this blog and read my thoughts. They are not great thoughts, magnificent thoughts; they're just thoughts. One aspect of life that I have learned is that one does not have to be the best at what they do, they should just do! I am not in competition with other writers, simply because there is no great competition in my mind. Therefore I stand alone in my own parallel dimension. I can be great in my own light, without the pressure of having to "measure up" to someone else's expectation of what good writing consists of. If we are to fully unshackle our minds from the chains of competition, then we truly are free to become expressionists of the spoken and written word. It is a liberating feeling when you don't see yourself in the big rat race of competing with other writers. Also, it is inevitable that you will intersect with writers who are much more proficient than you in the writing arena. Do not look at them with jealous eyes; rather, look to them and their prose for what you can learn. There is no such thing as a student who does not have a teacher. It is from the instruction of a skilled master that the apprentice learns the ways of that particular craft. I don't see competitors, I see artists. We all are born with inherent gifts, and it is up to us to bring these gifts to the light, and work them into a full blossom of shine. Lyricists tend to "battle" to see which is the more dangerous and tactical emcee. I refrain from this practice, simply because I choose to not place myself in a position of the challenge. My words will speak for themselves in the music I make, and there will be listeners who love it and there will be listeners who will despise it. As long as you are content with yourself in all that you do, you will have a forcefield around your mind that will protect you from the assaults of the exterior figure who negatively criticizes your work. But, one specific point I must get across to you is this: protect yourself from yourself as well. The Ego of the Self can be the Self's worst enemy. "Oh, you can't do it. Your work is worthless. You can't accomplish your objective. You suck. You're a terrible writer...." That's the devil that exists within your psyche. To truly become an artist, an expression of the true Self, you must free your mind from the external negativity and from the internal negativity, the parts that attack your heart from both within and without. Truly learn to love yourself, and appreciate the manifestations of your mind, the greatest invention created within the Self. As the RZA said in his song, "12 Jewels", "he who works like a slave, eats like a king." You must take this into consideration: if you discover your spiritual/mental/physical gift, and you do nothing with it and don't work it, exercise it, you'll be wasting all of that heavenly energy. But! If you cultivate that energy, and bring it through the cycles of fruition, then you will eat like a king, and be content. Read to keep your mental busy and filled with knowledge, and then regurgitate that knowledge by shaping words into your own form of writing (I am speaking specifically for writers here), and make the beauty that is hidden within to shine bright like the light of the sun. We are all sons and daughters of God, and he has imbedded within the schematic of our souls an individualistic and unique gift. It is up to you to find this gift, and cultivate it in the soil of the mind.

here's to 67.

Dr. Stephen Strange

Not Many Listeners

I don't have many listeners or readers, but I'm still going to write. I don't have a specific topic today, and I'm tired. Woke up about an hour ago, prepared for school, and went to the bus stop. I was late waking up today, but thankfully I made it to the bus stop right before the bus pulled up. My cousin Blake is probably on the road right now, on his way to Texas, to be with his immediate family. He and I are partners in music, and I'm sad to see him go, but if he must go to find happiness (or some measure of it), then I wish him the best. The drive is no less than 14 hours straight through from KY to Texas. I don't have much on my mind this morning, I'm tired. I need to find a way to advertise (for free, of course) my blog online. So far, I've only got about three readers, which isn't much. I did get a compliment from someone who googled "Sadness" and came up with one of my entries. I'm not sure how that works, but it was a nice compliment, made me feel good. How do you get more listeners? How do you get exposure? That is the question.

Keep Reading, Writing, and Listening.

Stephen Strange

Necessity

Today I don't feel like writing, but I'm forcing myself to do it, because for a writer writing is necessity. The beauty of writing is that it can come in an infinite array of styles, and each writer has his or her own style, expertise. Often, people tell you to think outside the box. I say, pick up that box and destroy it so that you have no limitations. Where do limitations derive from? Are we born with a set of boundaries (mentally) that dictate just how far we can go with our gifts and talents? Writing is something that I thoroughly enjoy, but I don't do it often enough. Well, at least I'm in the process of writing right now. The feel of the keys on the pads of my fingertips is an exhilarating feeling, and as the ideas pour out of your mind (the eye), you seem to get a sense of who you are. The Self can shapeshift in many forms, and through writing the mind manifests itself on paper. The old school writers, before the invention of the typewriter and PC, they used to sit at a desk or in bed, with a pen and a pad, and write out their thoughts as they came. This PC generation has the luxury of the "delete" button. Write so that you can elevate your thoughts, and bring them into the light. Our minds are so diverse, and our brains are so intricate, that through writing our souls are printed on paper. The counterpart of writing is reading. You can't be a writer without having consumed the fuel of reading. Words read become words written. Too many times in my thoughts do I neglect to write them down. You don't have to be the most organized "Feng Shui" type of person, but you should carry around with you a Composition book, to write down your thoughts, your poetry, at the instant that it comes into your mind. I tend to be lazy about my dictation, but I'm still a learner. I'm hard on myself, but here I am writing again, and that is good.

Keep writing.

Dr. Stephen Strange

Success Tastes So Sweet

For some reason, I continue to succeed in my scholastics. Today I took a quiz, and passed. In English 335, our professor has determined that you are allowed to fail one quiz out of the total amount of quizzes given. But if you fail more than one, your overall grade at the end of the semester will drop by one letter grade. So you can see why these quizzes are of vital importance. I don't know if I am meant to have a degree, but for reasons unknown to my psyche, God always carries me through to the next plateau. That's all school is, horizontal planes where you study to be approved, then ascend up to the next plateau. Currently, I am a senior at the University of Kentucky, which is amazing to me because I didn't imagine that I would get this far in my education. I am so close. Is it an inherent trait that we as human beings limit ourselves to our capacity to succeed, and then become baffled when we do succeed? It feels good to pass exams, to turn in homework that you worked on for hours, to read the required material for that day's lecture, to simply make it through. Yet, there are some students of life who expect nothing less of themselves but success. This is a great attribute, because it is of a positive origin. Positive Energy Always Corrects Errors, or P.E.A.C.E. I am of the type who are amazed when I move on to the next level, where in the same moment of success I thought I was to fail. Is it possible that I haven't yet realized my full potential? We all have greatness in our souls, and we must find that switch to turn that light on. Some lights shine brighter than others, but we are all created in an equal manifestation, as human beings, members of the human family. Success tastes so sweet, and when you obtain it, your mind is gratified. It is a sweet satisfaction, to succeed at whatever you do, and that energy builds upon itself, it compounds. Addition to the soul is very pleasing, especially when it is of positive form. Our minds are all shaped differently, due to the nature of our intellect, our personality, our mental and spiritual gifts. We are all different in that regard, but we are created through the matrix equally. So, congradulate your peers when they succeed as well. It will only add to your positive flux, your positive cipher.

Dr. Stephen Strange

The World Surrounding

Often I feel that the world hates me. I know I'm a human being, that I'm full of flaws, but why should I be abhorred by someone I truly love? If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't say it or speak it or write it. I wish in more ways than one that I could go back in time and uproot that weed that planted itself in my mind, so that I could live a decent life. I have horrible thoughts. But, that is something (a part of me) that I fight. I don't just let it breathe. So, which is more powerful, my evil or the part of me that battles against it? Love is something that we are born with, an essence of self, but along the way we seem to lose it, or misplace it in the warehouse of our minds, and forget how to find it. This is so frustrating, because the message that I get from the mouths of the people is that I've already fallen too many times in my time. Does the energy I expend fighting this devil within matter at all? I hear too much. Which is a better position, enlightenment or ignorance? Either way, I'm still troubled in my mind. I think my heart is in the right place, but my mind is askew. Does anybody out there feel the same way I do? Do you have any advice on how to silence your inner thought, to just be? From my studies, I've observed that enlightenment and insight only comes from within. J. Krishnamurti said that we must be lights unto our Selves, not light that is exterior, it must come from within. So, can this curse be reversed, or am I doomed to be a negative thinker for the rest of my short-lived life? I know that this blog is supposed to be a place for "positive thought", but I must shake these shackles off of my mind, and express the emotions I have in my mind at this point in time. We are humans that are composed of a myriad emotions along the spectrum of emotional expression. I figure that I must just continue to do what I do, try my best to be a good man, and then wait for the fruit of my labors to ripen.

Dr. Stephen Strange

Happiness in the Eye of the Beholder

I have taken notice to what some people say about their lives: they are unhappy. One question we must pose to ourselves is, "what is happiness?" The answers, depending on the individual, will vary. For myself, it is family, friends, the pursuit of knowledge and the acquisition of wisdom. Yet the other day I got my financial aid check in the mail and instantly the monetary weight that was applying heavy pressure upon my shoulders was curiously lifted. So, I must ask, does money bring us happiness? I think it's merely a conduit that takes us to those things that we consider factors of our individual happiness. The hundred-dollar bill isn't what makes me happy, it's what I do with it that brings that elated feeling of happiness and contentment. But, back to the topic. There are people that will say that money, or power, or sex, relationships, possessions, etc. brings them the ideal emotion of happiness. What about those that don't seek outside of themselves, outside of the soul? What is happiness to them? I would say, being partially like those diligent persons, that their happiness stems from their consumption of literature, philosophy, science, mathematics, religious scriptures, and whatever else can be lodged in the mind's warehouse, deposited, cataloged, and retained, kept. These types of persons are rare, for they only seek the riches of the mind, the eternal jewels that do not tarnish. They seek those things that are not acquired by monetary means, like the cliche states, "the best things in life are free..." I would say that I am a blend of the spiritual and the physical aspects of what makes me happy. Yes, I like to have money to buy things. But I also love to seek philosophical perspectives on life, for the fact is, we had a developing and intelligence-based mind before we had pockets. So, what is happiness to you? Eventually, the question will be asked, and then addressed.

Seek and ye shall find.

Dr. Stephen Strange

To Readers Hungry

The topic for this entry is "hunger." we all have appetites, which flux between good and evil, so we must be careful about that which we hunger after. I'm in the preliminary stages of being taught the Science of Life, or 120, but I've been studying 5% from the exterior boundaries for about ten years. As you can see, this pursuit falls into the realm of my hunger, which is positive. Positive hunger can consist of the seeking of knowledge, love, peace, and happiness, and usually it feeds us in segments or portions. I am no scholar, I am merely a student. Yet, Knowledge is one of my most desired hungers. I remember when I was younger, in my teens, I cared nothing for the riches of the mental plane. All I cared about was getting high, chillin with my friends, chasing ass, and drinking Gin til I vomitted. I was very undisciplined, and it probably shone obvious to the ones who were intelligent in that era of life, the teenage years. In many ways, I was savage and uncivilized. The hunger for intelligence didn't spawn until I started listening to albums by the WU-TANG Clan, and their affiliates. I was so amazed by the way they spoke and rhymed so intelligently. At the same time, I didn't understand half the words that they used, and the metaphorical concepts were beyond my scope. Hip Hop is an intellectual art, especially if you're listening to a seasoned emcee. One activity I did participate in was reading novels by Dean Koontz, which was the platform for me increasing my vocabulary in my twenties. I was astonished by his massive vocabulary. I picked up my first novel (ever read) in 1990, and to this day I am still an avid reader of his well-crafted stories. But back to the music: I started investigating the concepts that were being propelled into my psyche, one of which was this idea that God is Man, and the term, 5%. Alot of people don't decipher these messages in the music, and only tune into the drum, harmony, and/or melody. I read once in Journalism 101 that only about 2 to 3 percent of the music listeners interpret and intercept the lyrical content. That figure relates also the the 5%, mainly because such a small portion of the population of the continent (and further, the planet) understand and absorb this knowledge. 5% is a very small number, very small. So sometimes I ask myself, "Am I 5%?" I would say yes and no. Like most scriptures that I've read, I take and assimilate this information to my mind, but then add this to the mold and formulate my own understanding of life. I recognize that there is a beginning to the cycle of life, which begins with the Original Man, but I have witnessed the word of God (the sword or Tongue) coming out of the mouth of my own caucasian culture. My mind has been bent and warped and contorted, but this is merely a process of reshaping the mind into a mechanistic weapon that is both productive and positive. without knowledge of a subject, we are mere spectators to the state of things as they really are. But once knowlege has been obtained, we begin a curiously strange metamorphosis into our own mentality and constitution. Back to the hunger part of what I'm saying. (Sorry, went on a tangent) We all have hungers, both positive and negative. We must emphasize the positive, and reduce the negative. I think if you are in tune with your Self, you will recognize these fluctuations between the positive and negative. I have been consciously studying my mind and body for the last decade, when I became conscious of my Self and conscious of God's existence. Many people say they "believe" in God; well, I "knowledge" in God, which means that I know it a fact of his presence.

I would recommend that you take as long as it takes to learn yourself, because once you come into that knowledge, you will begin to see your hungers rise to the surface of your intellect. We are creatures of multiple potentials, both good and bad. So, study yourself!

That's my two cents on the topic.

Dr. Stephen Strange