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An agent, choosing freely
doomed to a  fate,  I  know not
or a puppet dangling from a string?

Imagine life as a choir of singlular ripples 
on the surface of a pond, entropic little  dances 
intersecting, until each has passed and gone, each
playing their part, in life's orchestra of cause and *effect
Then also add to the mix the neuro-chemical reactions going on inside our brain that cause us to make certain choices, the evolutionary mechanisms that we've developed along the way (fight or flight etc.) and we soon realize that free will's really just an illusion that we've used to shame ourselves into needing religion. We are naturally self loathing creatures that need to feel guilt. We evolved through suffering, and it's what we do best, suffering and pattern-seeking.
Familiar paths
are not always
the best ones
to travel
10(w)
They say the definition of insanity is
continually doing the same  thing
over and over again and expecting
a different result.
What is at the root of our societal ills?
is it religion? with it's antiquated dogma and decrees
packaged neatly in the form of a pill
militant atheists call for it's eradication, but that
*would only cure a symptom, and not the disease
This poem was inspired by long held beliefs that religion is not the disease, but merely a symptom of a greater problem; human suffering.  Also partially from the article below.

All people operate from the same two motivations: to fulfill their desires and to escape their suffering.

Learning this allowed me to finally make sense of how people can hurt each other so badly. The best explanation I had before this was that some people are just bad. What a cop-out. No matter what kind of behavior other people exhibit, they are acting in the most effective way they are capable of (at that moment) to fulfill a desire or to relieve their suffering. These are motives we can all understand; we only vary in method, and the methods each of us has at our disposal depend on our upbringing and our experiences in life, as well as our state of consciousness. Some methods are skillful and helpful to others, others are unskillful and destructive, and almost all destructive behavior is unconscious. So there is no good and evil, only smart and dumb (or wise and foolish.) Understanding this completely shook my long-held notions of morality and justice.

I encourage you to read the full article here: http://www.raptitude.com/2010/10/9-mind-bending-epiphanies-that-turned-my-world-upside-down/
 Sep 2014 ponny jo
r
Dawn
 Sep 2014 ponny jo
r
I awoke
at the crack
of dawn

to a blood red sun
-a bullet hole
in a faded work shirt

with a creak in my bones
a quick kiss and a groan

I thanked her
and slipped out
the back door

before her old man
came home.

r ~ 8/30/14
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  |      ; )
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 Sep 2014 ponny jo
r
I should leave here
but there's a hole needs burying

- a mountain of memories
and a thousand miles of pain -
it still smells like you
even after it rains

At the table by the window
where you used to read -
there's a whiskey bottle
that I'm trying to put away

There - is a hole that needs burying
one of these days.

r ~ 9/1/14
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 Sep 2014 ponny jo
r
Making fire
 Sep 2014 ponny jo
r
carved on walls
where fires burned
-indelibly etched-
the hunt and dance
our story

flint to moss
sparks ancient art-
tinder for desire

tendered flame
has seen us
***** unclothed-
an ivory venus
burned into my bones-

making fire

r ~ 9/3/14
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  |     /)/)/) Venus vom Hohlen Fels
/ \
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