Pearl Jam, Liebniz, God and the Karmic Streamline

Pearl Jam, Liebniz, God and the Karmic Streamline

I drank some wine last night with my brother, Chris, and we just ended up smoking and drinking and listening to music. I love it that we have such similar taste in music. His total love for Pearl Jam is something I don't quite understand, but since I have alot of PJ on my computer from him, I am kinda forcing myself to give them a good chance. There are a couple songs I don't mind, like "Rearviewmirror", "Elderly Woman Behind A Counter in A Small Town", "Indifference", "Tremor Christ", "Corduroy", "Save You", "Love Boat Captain," "I Am Mine", "You Are", "All or None"', "Footsteps", "Dead Man"and "Help Help". (So out of 115 songs, I've found a way to like 13). I still wouldn't say that I LIKE Pearl Jam, but it's as close as I'm gonna get.

In my search for metaphysical poetry on the internet this morning, I discovered the philosopher "Gottfried Leibniz" (1646-1716). Here are some of the things Mr. Leibniz has to say:

• "But the greatest genius of the world is unable to force matters, and we must of necessity enter by the gates provided by nature if we are not to go astray."
• "There are also two kinds of truths: truth of reasoning and truths of fact. Truths of reasoning are necessary and their opposite is impossible; those of fact are contingent and their opposite is possible. When a truth is necessary, the reason for it can be found by analysis, that is, by resolving it into simpler ideas and truths until the primary ones are reached."
• "Reality cannot be found except in One single source, because of the interconnection of all things with one another. I do not conceive of any reality at all as without genuine unity.... .. the ultimate reason of things must lie in a necessary substance, in which the differentiation of the changes only exists eminently as in their source; and this is what we call God. .. God alone is the primary Unity, or original simple substance, from which all monads, created and derived, are produced."

I very much agree with what he has to say, although I think that instead of the 'monad' necessarily being 'God", the 'one single source' is simply that original essence from which we all originate..whatever that may be. If you want to call it God then fine, but I think that if there is a 'God', our conceptions of god is too finite to be able to comprehend...we attribute human characteristics to 'god', when we know that god is something beyond human. In my mind, I conceive 'god' (if there is such a thing) as something with no personality or individuality, but perhaps some kind of 'ether' or 'continuum' that is of the neutral persuasion...if it does have personality it is the personality of all combined. God is not 'individual' in any way, nor does it have preferences or opinions. It just is. It is essence. It is me. It is you. It is nothing and yet is everything. And maybe we are the fuel? the parts? the mechanisms of a grand machinery that our tiny brain capacities can only begin to understand?


If God exists, this is the closest picture I could find to representing how I would visusalize it (yes if...not her or him...I've always found it ridiculous to attribute a sex to god, since if god wouldnt need to procreate, or to perpetuate god's species, then why in hell would it need the sex organs? Why? What need would there be for god to even have sex for pleasure? I'm sure beyond this life there are many many ways that a being without a physical or material body could seek pleasure...but all this talk still gives 'god' too much individuality..too much fitting it into a catogory and trying to define it. The debate over the existence of god is rather futile anyway, since there can never be proof in this lifetime one way or the other. Its more relevant to focus on how we are really gods within ourselves...we are the masters of our destinies, not some force that lies outside of us. I agree with Nietzsche here, who would say that the concept of god is not really a good thing, since our mental acceptance of a power greater than ourselves helps us to shirk blame and responsibility; it allows us to have a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in our lives, and to not be accountable for our actions. For myself, I realize that everything that has occured in my life thus far, has been due to decisions I have made and actions I have taken...even the things that do not seem to be so easily explained by this idea...look more closely...we all have a powerful 'karma'...the STREAMLINE... which contains all our positive and negative thoughts, actions and intentions, and dictates our experiences accordingly..so you see...either way we look at it, the only one we can blame for our current situations are ourselves...each of us are our own 'original cause'...but beyond that...see above picture...all this is god...ourselves merged with the karmic streamline....

"Sailing on my every step. Inching off of the earth.
Is magnified by the things I've done.
The thing that I've become.

Every lift of my hand. Coffee cup up, and back.
Is magnified by the things I've done. The things I've seen. the things I've caused."

From "Dead Man Walking" by Pearl Jam

So that's my philosophical contribution for the day.

I'll be back.