What we call reality—the human version—has been invented by us in order to overlay some kind of explanation on things…we’re like that you know…because we can’t handle uncertainty. The unknown is so massively threatening that we’ve invented religion in order to install a god over everything, we invented society to install gods over our tribes and we invented the practice of medicine (physiology and psychology) in order to install a god over ourselves.

Everything gets a name.

Actual reality exists regardless our thoughts about it. We can have endless discussions about the nature of man, about the pros and cons of one political affiliation over another, we can argue tirelessly and without end about Skinner’s world of behavioral motivations versus Freud’s where deep seated memories rule our actions but none of those words over words over words will mean anything to a rhinoceros…or a tree…or the water of the oceans. An aspect of reality is that the sun is the closest star to the earth at about 93 million miles away. It takes about 10 minutes for the light, generated by a constant process of both nuclear fission and fusion, to reach the earth. Our existence is absolutely and 100% dependent on that light reaching earth yet our existence is totally irrelevant to the sun which, although the subject of many romantic notions of goodness and light, couldn’t give a fuck if the earth was here or not.

A few billion nuclear explosions and 10 minutes later I tan. Whether I think I should or not.

As we stand on this planet of roughly 7 billion humans and we think about our place in the universe we should know that it is small, infinitesimally small, and what we do or don’t do only has impact on the people and physical things that immediately surrounds us. We should know that, as far as reality is concerned, the effect we have on it and the universe is unnoticeable.

Literally unnoticeable.

Until you try to cut in line at a NYC restaurant though, that shit definitely gets noticed.

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen

In a global society that has grown out of small tribes and the patriarchy of strong male hunter/gatherers—clearly 90% or more of our evolutionary arc—into the various patriarchal religions and governments, we essentially teach girls that they are objects. Not specifically sexual objects (although that is a huge component) but merely objects outside the realm of humanity. By being objects there are strict rules that must be followed, rules that boys and men, “real people” need not follow.

Objects are owned, people are not.
Objects are silent and stationary, people are not.
Objects can be sold, lent and given away, people cannot.
Objects are made to be broken, burned, used up and eventually destroyed, people are not.

It’s only be deconstructing the essence of our current misogynistic society, down to this “human as object” level, that we can begin to reconstruct the society that should be. If we are constantly treating the symptoms—sexual, political, government policy, etc.—then all of our energies will be misdirected and eventually useless to us.

We won’t ever change the world simply because we’re doing the wrong things.

The change comes now, at birth, where the dividing line between boy baby and girl baby can be erased. Where blue and pink can be simply colors in a huge spectrum. Where separate boy and girl teams can slide from memory so that it is talent and drive that decides players. Where cooperation can replace violence as a means to an end because the former is useful and the latter is not.

Where girls can look forward…

…and see the exact same future that boys do.

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen

I hear all the time that people just want to be loved, that is why we do the things we do, make the mistakes we make. While I agree that being loved by others is a great sensation, in fact probably the best on the planet, wanting to be loved is exactly the wrong way to think about—and, more importantly, go about—being loved.

Why ask people to do for us what we won’t do for ourselves?

It is a simple concept yet one of the hardest to comprehend…that loving ourselves is the ONLY way toward others loving us…that trusting ourselves, completely and without regard, is the only way that others can or ever will trust us. Ultimately, that by completely shedding our dependence on external validation is the only way that we can ever truly depend on others. We are the key to the entire process and we, ourselves, are the only people we control. Saying “I just want to be loved” is virtually the same as saying “please control how I feel about myself”

Um. No. The best way to say and think it is this;

“I don’t want to be loved by others, I want to love myself and by doing so have others clearly see their love within me; devoid of selfishness, bereft of sadness and anger… completely shared and naturally given.”

I think that sounds much better.

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen

It is a feeling that arises
slowly, lights it’s way forward
in my soul as the miles
slide beneath me, step
by step as the pavement
is cold or hot or wet or dry
as the sound in my ears
in my head on my skin
reverberates to each fall
of foot, each stride pushing
forward I feel it begin as
an idea, a rhythm, a small
target at my center, the thing
to aim toward to strive for,
to align this body, this mind,
this motion ever falling
forward I aim to arrive at the
place I never left, begin the
end before the start…I move
in order to feel, feel in order
to live…I am the road beneath me,
I am my steps my rhythm
a frequency that spills out from
the center, from the middle
of me to the ends of me…it is
a feeling that arises slowly but
as motion and moments collude
and collide and push push
push forward; I am the motion
I am the moment…I am the
steps the slide the minutes
flying by I am my soul in flight
into places I want to feel to be
to want like wanting is living
like motion is survival, I am my
soul; I am running and I am
alive in this minute moment
motion, I am the end result,
the vector toward that
small now large now
encompassing target inside
I am my own light rising,
I am running.
I am alive.

It is not enough to live, we
must be…and all that
that means; be aware of
ourselves, be cognizant
of others, be ready, be
strong, be able when asked
able when not, be always
and never, be silent and
so loud the universe
responds, be told and be
listening, be forward while
looking rearward, be here
now, be transparent and
solid to those who need us
be flowing when barriers
arise, be stoic when they
are within us, be in motion
and motionless…be all,
everything and nothing, be
the end as well as the start
be able to bend but break
when needed, be ready to
rebuild, be honest but be
smart when the truth
would harm, be that which
you want, that which you
need…be the shadow of
your own greatness, be
able to see beyond the
thing that is you…be…
…just be.

When we make decisions, we’re trapped within a fundamental system that endeavors to direct us toward choices where our species has a better environment, one more conducive to us propagating and surviving. It minimizes failures and over emphasizes success…often attributing what went wrong with external sources and what went right, internally.

Simply; if I won it was my doing, if I lost it was caused by something else.

This deception is in place in order for us to continually expand our environments, to constantly be on the lookout for the next conquest, the next new area explored, the next new way of hunting. If we were governed simply by reality, humankind might have died off a million years ago simply from being depressed about our failures.

The next time you are in a position to question a decision, imagine giving advice to a friend who faces the same decision. By removing yourself from the equation, often you will find you will tell them something other than what you would tell yourself.

You can see reality once you get out of the way.

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen

We watched Fate stand up and
walk to the edge and leap
and fall and fall away until
it was a speck then nothing more
Destiny laughed, always expecting
the sirens sad, sad call
calling for madness and chaos
from a far and distant shore
Grace wept in the backroom,
tragic fingers wiping tears
in the shadows sat Humility
with a strange surprised look
at what us pitiful humans
have become
How we got to this ending
is what we want to understand
we debate and discuss and
talk about it in halls and in taverns
in courts, the street, over meals
and inside the minds of man
contemplated as shallow graves
or empty, immense caverns
Religion itself couldn’t carry
the load that was required
and tore itself to shreds on
the brittle sharp rocks of facts
religion couldn’t withstand
the many leaders that were hired
they always turned out to be
mean and simple circus acts
Destiny demanded we
look for the truth in their words
and in their books but
they are the ones delivered
by the hands of man only…
we paid them…but money
changing hands just led us to crooks
who lied to us and decided
to take from us as much as they can
We were let down by gods
and demons both, we kept looking
on the chance that we might
stumble across the truth one day
a whole world truth that resonates
that integrates that replicates
we’re left dismayed, delusional
and with little left to say
Destiny laughed because
without insight or self-instruction
we make choices and decisions
with pity instead of science, with
morals derived from lies, the
simple and the magnificent
Fate saw the fiction, read the
writing and simply jumped
willing us to follow, waiting
on the other side.

This is something I don’t understand; people posting news about crimes where the racial details are reversed (with respect to the Zimmerman/Martin case) yet the cops or the courts virtually ignore it…and the associated community feels no need to protest. The people who post proudly point to this like it means something in the wider sense of justice in the United States. The thinking—I am extrapolating this from opinion as well as fact—is that showing these other crimes is somehow a repudiation of the hue and cry that has arisen from the Zimmerman trial…that these examples show that there is just as much *if not more* reverse bias crimes therefore the people yelling should…well…

… shut the fuck up…basically.

While I understand their need to defend the justice system (my theory being that that much of their identity is wrapped up in the idea that the system itself represents fairness and social equality therefore if the system is wrong then they are too) presenting evidence that other (reverse bias) crimes have occurred in some other part of the America, regardless that they have attracted community attention, means exactly nothing to the subject of racial equality overall.

None. Zero. Nada. Zilch

What they are really pointing to—of course they don’t know this—is the fact that this country is far too big and diverse for there to be any realistically efficient or effective central, federal government…which is what is needed in order for their arguments to be valid. The only way that it means anything (that other crimes are going unheralded in the press) is if the other jurisdictions were exactly the same, in almost every regard, to the one down in Florida.

I live in Brooklyn…do I think that the social mores, the common understanding of social justice and the community strengths and weaknesses here are exactly the same as those in Florida? Maybe if I was a dumbfuck, sure, but I’m not a dumbfuck so, no. The differences between here and there are so many that it belies the imagination to think that I could list them all.

How then could I make any kind of comparison?

Simple. I can’t therefore I don’t…before anyone tells me anything…

…I shut the fuck up.

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen

Think about this (and don’t lie, you know this happens all the time) you have a brother or a sister, a mom or a dad, cousins…someone close to you and they do something—like make a choice, or buy something, or say something—that you think is the stupidest damn thing to do. In fact, to you, it’s clearly and obviously the stupidest thing that they have ever done and you have no idea why they did it.

None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

These are people you intimately know and grew up with…in the same environment, in the same schools in some cases, definitely in the same family…so you know their mannerisms, the likely things they choose, the habits they have. You’ve had dinner together too many times to count, went on rafting trips, cookouts, the beach, you mowed the lawn and emptied the gutters…you lent money to them or borrowed some…

…yet they did something that is so outside your understanding that you literally cannot think of a reason why.

Now…think of a young man or an older white man several hundred to maybe thousands of miles away from you. The only thing you know about this men is what has been reported in the media…in one way on Fox, and in a completely different way on MSNBC…and you are asked to predict what these men would do under a certain set of circumstances.

You are asked to explain the choices they made.

Even though you can’t even come close to explaining that hideous purple quilt given to you by your grandmother—who fully expects to see it on the couch when she comes over—whom you have known the 50 years of your life and have lived 3 doors down from her for the last 26…

…so…It’s OK to say I don’t know.

Believe . Go. Do.

~TrevorZen

The purpose of the play we call our justice system is to assign justice and not “find the truth” because even though there is only “one truth” or reality in this universe, each and every player on that stage perceives it different. Some see right where others see wrong…some hear good where others hear evil…our minds are constantly under barrage by conflicting senses which continuously push and pull us to and from the answers we believe are true and the ultimate choices we make.

Justice is a concept of moral rightness taking into account the inalienable and inborn rights of all human beings but morality is fungible and fluid across demographics. The seemingly impossible script that our justice system attempts to follow is, starting with the imperfect laws written by imperfect man, balancing those conflicting standards of morality and delivering results that are as “mostly” right as possible

Our justice system is imperfect, sometimes bent by prevailing politics toward specific outcomes, often times unfair to the individual for the benefit of the majority but—as an institution made by man for the use by man—it is the best this planet has to offer.

6 women heard and saw the evidence in the Zimmerman/Martin case, were told and retold what the law says and means, and were then ultimately asked to decide which testimony and evidence was more right than the rest…and to digest that into a result and, regardless the possible ramifications and effects in the future, they did.

Right? Wrong?

No…it was justice.

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen