| 1-26-01 | logic vs. worldly truth |
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i am a firm believer in the power of logic. the only gifts that god intrinsically gave us with which we can decipher his truths are the senses and logic. the only of these which is fallible is sense. an example of this fallibility is the afterimage. when you stare at the sun and then look at the scene around you, a large dark circle appears in your view. does this circle really exist? only in your apparent reality, but not in actual reality. the need to distinguish between these realities is very important. if apparent reality is the same as actual reality, every time you forget part of the scene behind you it is removed from existence until you see it again. this, we all know, is not true because of the fact that this would negate the existence of others. we all exist. let's establish that right now. secondly, what is worldly truth? worldly truth is truth based on the generally accepted apparent reality of the collective human race. these truths are those such as "the ball is blue" and "1 + 1 = 2." if the color of the ball were called something other than blue, would it change the actual color of the ball? no, but it would change the worldly truth to one such as "the ball is not blue." normally, this would seem to make the worldly truth negligible except for one small point: we can apply worldly truth because we use the same language, and therefore the same terms. the bible is a source of absolute truth, but in all reasoning, we must use the logic that god has given us. worldly truth is not negligible, and it must be acknowledged. it is reasonable and valid to make a logical judgment from worldly truth, but it is more conclusive to make a judgment based on biblical truth. in effect, we must realize that to keep peace and intelligent debate, we must keep open minds and recognize what is logically true and valid. thank you. |
| aesthetic (es-theh'-tik) - of or concerning the appreciation of beauty or good taste |
| quote: the alleged power to charm down insanity, or ferocity in beasts, is a power behind the eye. ~ralph waldo emerson |
| 1-24-01 | the day the reticence breathed again |
| in response to all of the expressed interest, i have taken it upon myself to create a message board for you wonderful readers. i know that the things i say on the page may spark an interest or at least a disenchantment with the issue. now you all have a nice little place completely devoted to you upon which you may express your opinions or just write plain nonsense (you know to whom i speak). along with this heartening announcement i also have to say that it looks like reticence.net will be working again within a few days. i really hope so. keep in mind, however, that with the new system chosen by 50megs.com, i will be transferring all of the files for the page into yet another new account. this includes all the tabs and everything, but surely you all don't mind. sorry to cut the message short today, but i have some sleep to catch up on while you all have prior issues on which to muse. please post on the message board or leave me a message at 1-877-703-4300 ext. 591. |
| coalesce (koh-uh-les') - to grow together or unite |
| quote: the optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. ~irving caesar |
| 1-23-01 | the downfall of western civilization |
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well of course something had to go wrong the day after i got reticence.net back up. mydomain.com decided not to file a dns entry in their servers for my domain. oh well, why can't it be just as great for now at reticence.50megs.com? there is good news, however. all of the tabs are now working, including the once defunct metallica and offspring tabs. to get to these, click on the euphony link in the sidebar. now, this little perk should last even past the point that i get reticence.net working again. in fact, back on the subject of domains, i am supposed to have jordanharp.com redirecting to this site in a day or so. everyone just keep on testing and keep on hoping. today i have commentary on a classic book. this book is the catcher in the rye by j.d. salinger. when i read it, i hated it. i was engrossed, but nevertheless, the main character thoroughly disgusted me and seemed to pose more of an attack on wallflowers than was necessary. this was also combined with the fact that so many people with whom i have talked -- mainly female -- find the inanities of holden caulfield's thought processes funny because they so closely resemble the thoughts of normal teenage guys. if this is in fact the case, it is no wonder that most guys my age act like idiots. i always thought that it was more of a popularity-manipulation thing, but thanks to the insights of these oh-so-experienced women, i have found otherwise. give me a break. never once have the thoughts that run through holden caulfield's mind run through my own. it is a known fact that salinger was a recluse and that he purposely isolated himself and his family from human contact. why, you ask? my theory is not that he was deeply endowed with anthropological wisdom but that he was as unstable as the main character himself. i know that his daughter margaret would agree with me. in her memoir, dream catcher, she makes it clear that her move away from her family was more of a "breaking free" than a scary situation. if those who have never been a teenage guy are naive enough to think that holden caulfield was a working model of the stereotypical teenage-male mind, then i take enough offense at that to correct this horrible misconception. there is no model of a teenage mind. there. i said it. and i mean it, too. it is true that holden was a model possibly of salinger's mind, but the thought that anyone would generalize the thoughts of such a diverse group of people does not so much disgust as baffle me. no one will ever be able to fully convey the workings of a mind on any level higher than the individual. that is, the only way to create a character is to base it off of one mind, whether real or imagined. it is my sincere hope that no one claims to be able to display the workings of a collective mind. i know that salinger never claimed this -- that it is a product of ignorant readers -- but i don't want to be around when it does happen. and, with the way things are going now, i wouldn't be surprised at all. |
| acquiesce (ack-wee-es') - to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively. |
| quote: it's like saying she's a beautiful girl, except for her face. ~j.d. salinger (on an editor who praised a story of his while rejecting it) |
| 1-20-01 | the glorious return |
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reticence.net is back online!!! i am extremely sorry to all of you deep thinkers out there who may miss the bi-daily updates. all apologies aside, i believe that some explanations are in order. just to show you how efficiently the commercialized industries of corporate america operate. summed up, i bought the cable modem, and the dialup modem stopped working before the cable modem came online. while i was in a four-week struggle with comcast to have my cable modem put online, my domain host, 50megs.com, came under the management of about.com. when this happened, the password to my account became ineffective, i.e. i could not update anything. four weeks later the modem began working and i transferred all of these files to a new 50megs.com account. i could not attach the reticence.net domain to the new account because the domain parking portion of the new 50megs.com had been taken down for a few weeks. in any case, the solution was to park the domain with mydomain.com and change the nameservers i had set at dotster.com. i realize that most of that probably does not mean much to you, as i had never heard of most of it until i registered reticence. the important thing is that reticence.net is back up and ready for daily/bi-daily updates by yours truly, the reticent. sadly, i have gone through a sort of writer's block over the past month or so and have not written any new poems. i do suggest, however, that if you have not read the original poems you should do so. after doing that, go ahead and send me some input and suggestions (or even some constructive criticism) at thereticent@hotmail.com. another item of business is the band formerly known as eminence. the name was changed on account of the addition and subtraction of new members to endeavor. this name, however, was rejected because of the fact that the name was already taken by a new jersey hardcore band. the latest i have heard from dane (the singer) is that the name will be living under silent truths. the only problem with this is that it is an acronym for lust, a name which has been previously taken by another band. theoretically, it would not be copyright infringement because the name of the band would not actually be lust but l.u.s.t. i, personally, was hesitant about the name of the new name of the band because it didnt seem to convey the sense that the band itself does. now i realize that it is a paradox displaying that lust is the silent truth under which we all live. at any rate, it is my job to promote the site through the internet, and i will be creating a site for them soon. i will post the link as soon as i complete the site. the paradoxical name of the band really gets me thinking. i realize that many parents will automatically be offended by the acronym. this is just a matter of course. many of the most intelligent minds are disguised in threatening covers. who can say what is really worthy of acclaim? only those who have experienced the products of the mind. i believe that the name is a subdued expostulation against the state of our society and commercial world. everywhere you look is an example of sex being used to hype a product or ratings. take the new fox show temptation island for example. i am not even going to comment further on the blatant stupidity and lust in this establishment. remember kids: fight the system, ixnay on the hombre, and rage against machines. |
| elan vital (ay-lahn' vee-tahl') - [french vital force] in bergsonian philosophy, the original vital impulse which is the substance of consciousness and nature |
| quote: i begin to feel a faint tremor in my body. this is the true hour of the death of henry jekyll...good-bye...good... ~r.l. stevenson's the strange case of dr. jekyll and mr. hyde |