Compulsive Behavior Side Effects?

More often than not we hear or read about me discussing taking personal responsibility and being personally held accountable for our words and actions. This post won’t be any different. I found it humorous that I was sent the link to the below information and shortly after reading it I heard a damn commercial for the same thing. Odd what we hear on the radio @ 02:30 am while driving my happy ass to work. Anyone, I would assume, who watches television or listens to the radio has seen or heard at least one Ambilify commercial. True or not? Having a son who suffers from mild bipolar disorder we have been bombarded with samples and prescription answers which will somehow magically transform behavior. I tell you from my personal experience, we don’t use my son for a testing ground so big pharmaceuticals can make their billions at the cost of my son’s mental well-being. So, when I saw this bullshit about the lawsuit towards the makers of Ambilify I merely smiled to myself because we all know there is not one single perfect medication with no side effects. While my son has never taken Ambilify, we did research it extensively, just as we have done with many others.

But why are we here right now? But why did I choose to write about it right now? It’s simple, this is another example of people who cannot be responsible for their own actions. It’s about people who blame someone else for their own behavior because they acted without self control. It’s because people want the quick fix. It’s about people who choose to not read the small print or they choose to ignore the small print. Yes, I find this lawsuit as being fucking stupid because people made bad choices but don’t want to take responsibility for their own decisions. But then we know in our society nobody is forced to be held accountable, it’s always somebody else at fault. Bullshit! If we fuck up we just sue someone because we can profit from our lack of responsibility. Or have we forgot that coffee from a fast food joint is extremely hot and will burn the fuck out out your crotch if you spill it? People are dumbasses. Let this be yet just one more example.

The following information was originally found here and provided by a leading contributor to The Scorpion Army. I don’t have any express or otherwise permissions to copy this story from the above linked website or to use it on my blog as part of a post which includes my personal opinion. Hopefully they understand I do not support the lawsuit efforts but do not hold the above website responsible for posting this story. In the end, if they wish that I remove it in part or completely it will happen swiftly and immediately. The two pictures were borrowed from the internet using Google. Remember, I neither gain or loose anything by sharing the following information, it’s just being shared because I found it truly interesting.

Abilify has been linked to compulsive behavior side effects, such as pathological gambling, binge eating and hypersexuality. These behaviors are thought to be triggered by the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.

One of the most popular treatments for a variety of mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,  makes billions for Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company. It was the top-selling drug in the U.S. in 2013 with sales of over $6.4 billion. The drug works by either increasing or decreasing dopamine or serotonin in the brain when there is an imbalance, and this makes it useful for a variety of approved and unapproved uses.

However, the drug is also linked to disturbing compulsive behavior side effects that can wreak havoc on the lives of patients and their families.

Among these side effects, compulsive or pathological gambling can be financially crippling, and it can destroy lives. People in the grip of compulsive behaviors will do anything they can to continue the chosen activity, even if it means ignoring the rest of their lives and withdrawing from friends and family.

This side effect in particular may lead to lawsuits against Bristol-Myers and Otsuka America, claiming the companies did not properly warn patients and doctors of this serious side effect.

In addition, reports of other side effects include compulsive eating, shopping and even sex addiction.

How Abilify Causes Compulsive Behavior

While doctors aren’t exactly sure how Abilify (aripiprazole) works, they believe it acts on receptors in the brain for chemicals that regulate mood and behavior. These chemicals are neurotransmitters called dopamine and serotonin.

When the dopamine system is stimulated in response to a particular activity, people will feel a high from it or a feeling of pleasure. This reward system normally ensures that we continue to eat and do other things we need to do to survive. In people with mental disorders, these systems are stimulated excessively, or not enough.

Researchers think Abilify may over-stimulate dopamine reward receptors in the brain – called dopamine 3 (D3) receptors – and trigger compulsive behavior.

Compulsive Gambling

Several case studies focused on a connection between aripiprazole and compulsive behavior, also called pathological behavior, especially in the case of gambling. One French study published in 2013 by Gaboriau, et al., examined several people who checked into a clinic because of their compulsive gambling behaviors. Study authors looked at eight individuals who took Abilify as part of ongoing medical treatment. Researchers found the drug caused seven of the eight patients to lose control of their gambling habits.

After discontinuing the drug or greatly reducing the dose, patients regained control of their compulsive behaviors, researchers wrote.

Another 2011 case study by Cohen, et al. found similar results in patients treated for schizophrenia. No patients in this study had a history of pathological gambling. Soon after taking the drug, they began gambling uncontrollably.

Similarly, a 2011 British study conducted by the National Problem Gambling Clinic found a relationship between Abilify and the drive to gamble in some patients. Doctors described one case in which a patient took the antipsychotic and “was preoccupied with thoughts of gambling and his gambling activity became both impulsive and involved extensive planning in obtaining funds to gamble, including the use of crime.”

Another patient said gambling became “a reason to live” after he took the drug.

In all cases, gambling problems resolved after discontinuing Abilify and switching to another drug.

Sometimes The Gift Bites Back

My recently married daughter and her husband have a habit of just picking up trinkets and t-shirts from gift shops when they are out tooling around in different places. Last night being no different, after a day spent in Old Town Spring, Texas going to shops and finally to dinner they returned knocking on the door to give me a surprise. Knowing I will try just about anything with some heat they believed they found the perfect gift for me.

So now that you have looked at the picture I’m going to write out the label that can’t really be seen in it’s entirety. I warn you now that the language is quite colorful and might offend those of y’all who are sensitive to this kind of thing. But you know me, I like to share the things I find somewhat twisted and very interesting. The label reads as follows.

“We warned you. This is a seriously fuckin’ hot sauce. That’s right we said it — because we had to. There is no other way to describe just how hot this sauce is. I suppose we could have said “it’s like the fiery depths of Hell” or “that it’s ass-burning” and even “keep away from pets and small children and avoid contact with sensitive areas”, but that just seems so wordy. The sauce is hot as fuck! Succinct, to the point — no beating around the bush! Honesty is always the best policy, isn’t it? If this sauce burns intensely, don’t be afraid to let it out. Scream fuck at the top of your lungs. You’ll feel better. There is no better verbal therapy.”

Let me also include the short list of ingredients in case y’all can’t see them that great. They include habanero peppers, african oleoresin, scotch bonnet peppers, salt, onion, vegetable oil, acetic acid, garlic, and xanthan gum.

Here’s the big question y’all are begging to ask me, is it fucking hot? Not to deter from the awesome label and product description, but it was an average heat for a hot sauce. With that being said, I must admit I’m a bit jaded when it comes to heat. I grow, process, and consume a variety of insanely hot peppers down to the common pepper for flavoring bland food. What I really liked was it’s bold flavoring and the way it cinged my nose hair a bit when taking a deep sniff. However, for the rookies and amateurs it just might be a bit over the top. The average Joe might not want to toss the wings in this sauce and serve it up to family, I’m just saying.

My question to all of y’all out there would be, what do you find to be too fucking hot to consume?

A Late Valentine’s Day History Treat

It was recently bought to my personal attention by a very eager contributor to The Scorpion Army that I skipped anything about Valentine’s Day yet another year. It’s true, I do skip it, it’s a stupid “holiday” in my opinion. I truly dislike absolutely everything about it, especially the commercialization of how one is to show love or affection. It just blows my mind the amount of money dole out, and for what? I could mention Christmas and Easter as well, but we’ll get back to those another day altogether. Since I’m way behind on the whole email reading thing I’m just now getting to this one, I hope she understands. But, this is an interesting look at the iconic Valentine’s Day heart’s origin, or at least one opinion, and if nothing else it sparked my interest a little. I’ve said for a long time that the worship of the ass of females should be a religion. Anyway, I don’t know where she got the information below or how accurate it is, but it made me smile, so I chose to share.

The familiar double-lobed heart symbol seen on modern day Valentine’s Day cards and candy was inspired by the shape of human female buttocks as seen from the rear. The twin lobes of the stylized version correspond roughly to the paired auricles and ventricles of the anatomical heart, but is never bright red in color and its shape does not have the invagination at the top nor the sharp point at the base. The ancient Greeks and Romans originated the link between human female anatomy and the heart shape. The Greeks associated beauty with the curves of the human female behind. The Greek goddess of beauty, Aphrodite, was beautiful all over, but was unique in that her buttocks were especially beautiful. Her shapely rounded hemispheres were so appreciated by the Greeks that they built a special temple Aphrodite Kallipygos, which literally meant, ‘Goddess with the Beautiful Buttocks.’ This was probably the only religious building in the world that was dedicated to buttock worship.

What the traditional “heart shape” actually depicts is a matter of some controversy. It only vaguely resembles the human heart. The seed of the silphium plant, used in ancient times as an herbal contraceptive, has been suggested as the source of the heart symbol. The heart symbol could also be considered to depict features of the human female body, such as the female’s buttocks, pubic mound, or spread vulva. The tantric symbol of the “Yoni” is another example of a heart-shaped abstraction of a woman’s vulva.

As Requested By My Oldest Daughter

Before I really get into this post and the nature of my oldest daughter’s request, let me just say that this is quite possibly the strangest request I have ever been asked by anyone, ever. As many of y’all know, my oldest daughter lives in the state of South Dakota and will be getting married in the summer. Over the years we have maintained a very close relationship which allows us to talk about just about anything under the sun. Most times our conversation stays on the pretty straight and narrow, but last night I was asked to do something completely from out in left field. I don’t say that negatively, let’s just say it was a complete shock to me. It all started because we were talking about her wedding planning, more specifically what the dress code for me was going to be as the father of the bride. The reason for asking is this will be an outside wedding and the wedding party will be dressed really casual, not shorts and flip flops, but pretty casual to say the least. I was told how I dressed is up to me, now let me explain why.

The one thing that has troubled or plagued these wedding plans has been finding the “right” person to officiate the ceremony. It has been my understanding that they didn’t want a Justice of the Peace or a minister, no minister simply because they don’t exactly want it to be too religious. Now, I don’t think it will be a pagan wedding with a live sacrifice of a virgin, but something more free spirited. My daughter was born in the wrong era, being born in 1990, because she lives her life more like she was growing up in the late 60s, a modern day version of the flower child if one was to ask me. In the end, they claim no religious preference, knowing only there is a greater power out there that is bigger than all of the rest of us. Anyway, after discussing things in their own home they decided to ask me a “giant favor” and to see what my opinions were on something they believed would make their wedding very special. By now I will assume that y’all have looked at and read the picture, if not this would be a good time to do so. Once y’all do that then perhaps it will be easier to explain what was asked of me and, as of today, what I have “become”. Looking at my blogs and the way I live my life in the real world I would have never guessed that I would ever be witness to this event ever happening. I wonder if she remembers we have tickets to see Slipknot and Marilyn Manson the end of June.

And that is that, in a matter of a few minutes I’m legal to marry couples in every state in the Union. Yes, this was the question I was asked. I was asked to be the one to preform the wedding ceremony. I know, weird, right? For right now, we are set, especially now that I made numerous phone calls this morning to find out if this is actually legal and legit. It was surprising to me to find out that my scenario is very common, especially in States recognizing same sex marriage. I did allot of digging, allot of calling, and allot of research, and I found that my signature on their license will be legal in all states and recognized in all states. Which is what my concern was, I wanted to be sure that this wasn’t wasting anyone’s time or getting anyone in legal trouble. I will post again on this topic later this summer after the wedding. I think I know what I’m wearing now, can we say tuxedo t-shirt?

Burn………Baby……….Burn

WARNING: The following presentation discusses a form of wood finishing which involves the use of an open flame, a torch to be more specific. Please be familiar with your particular device and read all cautions and warnings for said device. The Sting Of The Scorpion Blog nor myself will not be held responsible for any errors in your judgement. The information provided in this post is educational under the assumption that the person attempting this particular technique has a certain degree of common sense. Therefore, if YOU fuck it up YOU yourself is responsible for fucking it up, not me or this blog. One needs to be aware of the dangers involved when using an open flame. In the end, practice first, practice again, and be extremely fucking careful. Again, I will not be held responsible for YOUR errors or victories. The following information is based on my personal experience and knowledge. Got it?

When I lived in Japan I was very lucky to have stumbled upon an older gentleman who was willing to teach me a wood finishing technique called Yaki-Matsu (burnt pine). Since then I have practiced and somewhat perfected my own personal version of this wood finishing technique. I cannot stress enough, seriously, that this can turn into a disaster in a blink of an eye since wood burns, but with a little practice one can tame the flame to make a very unique look on anything made of wood. Also, let me just state that I have 30 plus years experience in woodworking and cabinetry. Therefore, I hate to call this a DIY style post. My intent is to share a technique of wood finishing that others can try on small to large projects. Before you try any of this at home be sure you are aware of what you are doing and be responsible enough to know your personal limits and skills.

In reality this post won’t be an all inclusive do it yourself post on how to burn the grain of the wood to get this special look. Basically, I’m just answering all the questions in advance since it might be hard to grasp the concept and design of my project personally. As one can see from the pictures, my project was to create an island space in a rustic nature to blend in with the cedar woodwork in my sister’s 100+ year old farm house. Also, before all of y’all self appointed experts try to get in my ass for not doing it your way just feel free to hold those opinions. Like any “tradition”, I have taken this technique and made it my own. Trust me, I’ve ruined more than one piece of wood over the years. As mentioned, my sister wanted something unique, not the typical look, not something out of the box, and something that had a ” wow factor”. Overall, it was a very tall order to fill, and not to mention that this has been a time consuming project to say the absolute very least. So let’s begin the highlight reel.

Where y’all see an island used to be a wall with a pass through hole in it. First step, demo the wall and support the second floor. Then to create bar height seating as well as an island that is kitchen counter height. The secondary purpose of the island was for storage. Once the construction portion was complete it was time to talk finishing it all off. I chose to “antique” and distress everything except for the two cedar posts and the actual counter and bar surfaces. Antiquing this much area, to include the ceiling features took a great deal of time. I remind everyone that everything you see was created, from the tongue and groove beaded boards to all the trim, the cabinet doors, and so forth. I left my treatment of the top a secret, a surprise that was either going to make or break this project. By now I can assume that many of y’all have Googled the term “Yaki-Matsu” so I can simply tell y’all it is a technique in which the grain of the wood is kissed with the open flame of a torch. I chose this instead of staining or leaving it natural because of its true uniqueness, as no two boards look the same. When the time came to mount the wood I used square headed barn nails that I liberated from a 147 year old barn we tore down last summer. Yes, I have hundreds and hundreds of feet of barn lumber and no it is not for sale. At the time of these pictures I had not applied the varathane yet. After burning the one all that needs to be done is rubbing the wood down with a dry, clean, soft cloth.

I will post more pictures when I’m 100% done. Hell, the purpose of this post was to let some concerned individuals know what I’ve been up to because they think I have quit blogging or that I’m dead. So far I have around 200 hours invested into it, I probably have at least 20 to go. Just know this, as a final warning, one will come across occasions when using the torch in the house becomes necessary to touch up edges and so forth, remember that most things in our houses don’t react well with open flames, I’m just saying. I guess as I look back over what has been written I can see this wasn’t much of a tutorial at all, which is fitting because I such giving instructions for the most part. If nothing else maybe y’all learned that there is yet another way to beautifully treat wood without stain or paint. I suppose, in the end, I’ll just share some pictures with y’all and call it good.

Caption This Photo

We’ve seen some strange happenings in the real world and on the internet, some of which find themselves worthy of explanation. In my opinion, the picture I have provided for you today needs something said by someone. Are you the one with your thinking cap on today? Leave your caption in the comments and lets have a little fun today.

Penetration Before Detonation

Going along the line of my last post about boxes full of my Air Force and AMMO shit that my wife got ahold of, I decided that my last post merely scratched the surface of a few topics that I finally decided to discuss. If you didn’t read We Live So Others May Die then this may seem pretty random and might not make total sense, but then again that can be said for most of the shit I write anyway. I had left out my jacket from the last story, I think I got sidetracked or something. But, the jacket pictured is a big part in ways of expressing and explaining how I’ve changed over the last 15 years since getting out of the Air Force. How so? In many ways one might say I matured, maybe grew up is better, since I was 32 at the time of exiting. The things that were my life and priorities were very different only a week later, no more eating all things dangerous for breakfast and shitting tiffany bullets by dinner, providing the enemy the opportunity to die for his country was no longer printed on my business cards. Overnight my life as I knew it was upside down, it was a disaster and a hard first few weeks, and slowly the stress of that job faded.

But let’s go back first, way back. My dad was a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant before I was born in 68. It wasn’t until my teen years that he began to open up to me about his military career. The thing that used to intrigue me the most about his career was him telling me, in a joking manner, that Uncle Sam used to pay him to blow shit up, and I thought that he had to have had the best job known to man. My mind was made up, I was joining the Air Force and do what he did. However, by the time it was time certain jobs had been retired and new ones created. Let history show that I chose to be a 461. Now, we all have heard that Air Force basic training is relatively easy, right? Right. I won’t lie, it was easy. I think it’s easy because they’re not really training “soldiers” or “badasses” by definition, they’re teaching military service as a way of life, like summer camp but with better weapons, because they know one is in the air force to do things on the more technical side. Blah, blah, blah, it was a breeze. Technical school for the 461 was a crash course in how not to end up dead, full of many technical terms, safety, and how one must absolutely positively respect explosives or they simply put your dog tags in an envelope to mail to your next of kin because typically that’s all one can expect to be remaining. All that being said, it stuck with me always, respect. And sure enough I got out with all ten fingers and toes and everything in the middle. I paid the price tho, I drank the kool-aid, I started believing the propaganda as the everloving truth, I would preach it all like the gospel itself. Later in my career I had my wake up call, and at that point I was no longer able to be detached from the horrors of what I helped create.

I wore this jacket everywhere, I wore it with absolute pride knowing if I did my job properly then without prejudice those weapons would function as designed. I mean think about it, without explosives the Air Force is just the world’s largest airline which was even more lore and propaganda, I had a head full of it, it was pounded in until my sweat glands weeped it all back out, it was like the victory lap after being full circle for hundreds of miles yet never going anywhere. It’s a beautiful plan. And just to think that the general population of the United States of America is opposed to the waterboarding of our enemies but it’s OK to brainwash our sons and daughters in the military because we must make stronger soldiers. Bullshit. They break you down and then build the you they think you should be, fuck the real you, the real you is DOA once you sign the dotted line. My whole career was just a dangerous game, I got to dance with the devil and sleep with his daughters all in the name of democracy and the American way. I know this sounds bitter and sarcastic, I’m not trying to, because I actually really loved being in the Air Force. As my jacket reads, I even advertised our services for free every moment I wasn’t in uniform.

Back to present day, this jacket was neatly folded laying on top of everything else in the box, resting for eternity, or so I thought, until I see it has been resurrected. But the emotion I had was not anger for digging up my skeletons, it was a smile and surprise. As soon as I said I would not be wearing it, simply because I had a growth spurt in my mid 30s, my son volunteers to be its proud new owner. Way wrong fucking answer boy, it will never happen. First of all, it is not appropriate to wear to school, I don’t care if he is in the AFJROTC in high school, I really don’t. Sure, it would be cool for him to show off, but all the perverts would find some way of making it a sexual statement. Just say it to yourself and imagine all the meanings. Of course, very few know it is the calling card and slogan for my favorite weapon of all, the BLU-109. Yes, I had a fantastic favorite, seems weird now, stop making it weird people. Plus, its not his “game” to play with people. I can back my shit up, he cannot. Yes, I can remember wanting to wear my father’s uniforms and so forth so I do get the psychology. But the responsible dad part of me just says no to it altogether.

Damn, of course, this story, this little piece of personal history, has gone in so many directions. Oh well, maybe some of y’all get it, and I cannot help the rest of y’all. This reminds me of so much more, I hope this doesn’t constitute violating the terms I signed when I got out, you know the form, don’t ever talk about your job from this day forward or go to federal prison. I knew I would crack one day, I just never knew when. So, until next time boys and girls, remember to eat it every day!

We Live So Others May Die!

There is no doubt that over the years I have collected my fair share of AMMO & IYAAYAS memorabilia. Until recently most of which sat in boxes collecting dust in storage. In a way it was me putting my past life to rest and eventually moving on to a civilian life. However, while thinning out boxes, repacking boxes, and deciding what stays and what goes, my wife and son got ahold of everything while I was working. When I came home much of the stuff was hanging on the wall of the hall leading to the master bedroom. It was both a shock and surprise to see most of it. When I asked why I was told that this stuff needed to be out, needed to be seen, and she thought I would appreciate the fact that they took the time to put allot of it on display. I do appreciate the effort, but if I wanted it out of the boxes then I would of done it a long time ago, but no, it remained boxed, hoping until I was dead at least.

I ate, breathed, and lived the motto “We Live So Others May Die” my entire Air Force career and when I got out, my priorities, opinions, and morality changed considerably. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my fucking job every single day, all day long, but once I got out, day by day it just stopped meaning the same thing to me personally. Trust me, there is no better satisfaction than seeing the munitions you had a hand in building get loaded onto an aircraft and not see them come back because when the pilot pulled the trigger the weapons functioned as designed. That was the beautiful part of my job. I always remained disconnected from the damage, death, and destruction because I was in the “supply chain”. We were never the one pulling the trigger.

One day, in an undisclosed place in the mid 90s, I got to witness the true power of what I helped create and happen. I didn’t care for what I saw. I became ashamed of the organization I belonged to. I made up my mind I didn’t want to be a part of it any longer. When I got out I was happy to see the Air Force in my rear view mirror. At that point everything, pictures, memorabilia, uniforms, paperwork, trinkets, and so forth, went into the boxes. I ask myself why I boxed them up instead of burning it all and my answers were clear, I had many great memories of places I had been, people I have met, and experiences I have had. It’s what we do right? We put our memories in frames, shadow boxes, and actual boxes, as keepsakes and so forth. I have always had trouble talking with people in person about my ” job” in the Air Force because it no longer held any “glory” for me. As an example, way back when I was married to my ex, she finally found out what I actually did for a living. Sure, she knew what I did, but she never put two and two together because I never spoke of my job to her, ever. Sure, I had friends doing the same job who we interacted with regularly, most with wives who were friends with mine, but work was never the topic. Then, one day I received a slap to the face as I got told she didn’t want to be married to a baby killer. Yea, I know.

Years later, many years, my boxes full of my past life resurface, now my current wife and 14 year old son have questions. Questions I don’t really want to answer. My wife on the other hand already knew the answers but felt if my son was asking me questions then I needed to be the one answering. How about……. I don’t know…….. maybe……. fuck this shit I don’t want to discuss anything. My son had but one question. He wanted to know what the motto “We Live So Others May Die” meant to me. I’m not going to lie, there were many minutes of silence on my part, as I watched my son reading that phrase over and over on different things now hanging on the wall. What does it mean, really? The simple answer, in my opinion, is that thru training, schooling, education, and brainwashing, we truly were the facilitators of death and destruction, part of a machine which promotes peace through submission. I took great pride knowing that I did my job exceptionally well. However, the me of today is ashamed in many ways to acknowledge that this, in another time, was my life. I should have just burned it all when I had the chance way back when, but I didn’t, lucky me. We also looked at my uniforms, he was particularly interested in my dress blues, as they were still adorned with ribbons, awards, tours, and accolades. Looking now, I had quite the rack. It’s meaningless now I suppose, only because I wonder what it was all for.

I am very proud to have served my country and have the deepest respect for all of the men and women who serve now, have served, or will one day serve. I know it isn’t easy, not during your service and definitely not afterwards, not everyone has an easy transition. The military changes who we are to be who they want and then turn us out back into society. I explained to my son the reason I visit two different Veteran’s homes and the Veteran’s hospital is because I like talking with veterans who don’t seem to have anyone to talk to. I’m not trying to help them nor solve their problems, I just listen and talk, we share our experiences, we smile knowing that we have friends within one another.

After a very long conversation with my son, about the good, the bad, and even the ugly, he stood up and hugged me, it was a deep and meaningful hug which brought tears to my eyes as he whispered that he loved me into my ear. He explained that he wanted me to know he loved me and will always be proud of his dad. He has been going hard at the AFJROTC all year and hopes to one day follow in my footsteps. As much as I would like to desuade him from this career path, I won’t, I want him to fulfill his dreams, I won’t allow my own experiences to be his burden. Don’t know if that makes sense.

I close this post with a final thought, we are who we are, it is what it is, we live our lives as we see fit, hopefully we find some happiness along the way. To all active duty and veterans, I salute each and every one of y’all!

Troubles With Being Troubled

It troubles me a great deal that I have spent the last month cleaning out my storage unit and moving what we wanted to keep in what is now a spare bedroom since my daughter got married and moved out. The overall goal was to eliminate 90% of the shit we had in storage, keeping only what truly necessary. I did well, I reduced a 20′ X 20′ unit, packed to the gills floor to ceiling and wall to wall to a stack 3′ deep, 7′ wide, and 7′ or so tall. Also giving plenty of room for my bowflex and Arachnid arcade coin operated bar style dart board. The intent was to keep shit handier than 5 miles away. But I’ll be damned if it hasn’t already happened, I couldn’t find one thing I kept out to assist me in hanging some new shelves I recently built.

But no, it was MIA, until after 3 hours of searching, then to find out that even with a brand spanking new battery, my fucking stud finder has taken it’s final shit. Yes, I know I could have bought one and been done in the time it took me to locate this dead one, but it was the principal of it, I had one, and I’m a cheap bastard. Hence why I’ve depended on the same one for some 15 years or so. My shit must be broken before I replace it. Only this time duct tape and bailing wire cannot make this work. So, how did I lose it to begin with? Beats the crap out of me. I went from having a well equipped woodworking shop to 2 roller/stacker craftsman toolboxes, 4 tool chests, 4 tool boxes, and three 20MM ammo cans. Now that I write that out it seems a bit excessive, but the only tools I sold during the foreclosure 7 years ago were power tools like a table saw, lathe, router set up, 2 air compressors, a handful or air tools, and my 10′ clamps. I didn’t get rid of one hand tool or smaller electric tools. What I still have is my little gold mine. Figures the one Stanley product I own is the one that took a shit.

Eventhough I know where each of my tools are located, the stud finder found its way into a box with miscalanious shit my wife wanted off the dining room table, she didn’t know it was a “tool” when it was put away. Know something else? I have quite a large collection of knives come to find out, all of them in one place now makes it look a bit excessive, just saying. But, when one downsizes and condenses one’s belongings, one finds out he has some weird collection habits. So, in the end, I was forced to do things the old fashioned way. As a result, my shelf was hung without the aid of my elusive stud finder, and now that this little project is done its time to find more trouble to play with to keep me busy. Made me wonder tho, made me think back when I was being educated, that this occasion gave me an opportunity to share my knowledge with my son. Moral to this little story is that there is always more than one way to skin the cat. Sometimes one must rely on tried and true ways instead of technology and convenience. This entire episode taught me a valuable lesson, sometimes shortcuts fail and we have to rely on experience as well as being able to adapt to a changing environment, if we don’t know more than one way to do something then we are screwed. Too deep this early in the day? Anyway, on to the next project.

The Nature of Duality Explained

Recently my son, as a homework assignment, was asked to prepare a paper explaining the nature of duality. I was asked to help explain, and of course, the first thing that pops out of my mouth is the short quote from the movie Full Metal Jacket, the duality of man to destroy itself: in order for peace, you must prepare for war. Eventhough I could have set him up writing his entire paper on the dualities shown in the movie, it was decided to do more research. Oddly enough, almost everything we found was based upon something religious, a route we didn’t want to take, but we found the following information and more which used some very clever examples, so I wanted to share. It made me think, perhaps it will provide y’all the same.

As you read these words, multiple layers are at work to generate what you currently experience. These layers exist independently of each other and yet interact almost directly. The first layer, the one most of us are most sure of, is yourself: your mind, your consciousness, that which experiences. The second layer is your body: your brain, the flesh and bone that contains and produces your consciousness, that which translates external stimuli as sense experience. The third layer is the rest of the universe: an entity within itself, of which you play a part but cannot understand and perceive directly (because the second layer, your body, acts as a barrier).

The separation between the first and third layers is the cause for the “duality.” It is precisely because your mind cannot directly experience the universe that a duality is formed, which separates understanding, meaning, and truth into two parts: relative and absolute.

What is the Duality?

Simply put, the “duality” is the nature in which anything and everything holds opposing truths: all of which are true. The infinitely small is also infinitely big and vice versa. Our Earth is an enormous planet but also a mote of dust suspended in space. The villain and hero are both each other: it is all perspective. So long as the body acts as the middleman between the consciousness and the universe, everything we perceive as truth is only relative.

However, this does not mean that relative truth is unimportant or meaningless: truth is truth, even if it is a relative one.

Why is understanding the Duality significant?

Understanding the duality of all things is important because it allows us to see from other perspectives. The more important part of understanding the duality is seeing that all perceptions are RELATIVE and therefore separate from the inherent, physical reality. There is the distinction that the mind is not the body and vice versa; we can perceive the world but we will never know it.

Examples of Duality in Perspective

The True Color of The Flower

I see a flower, it is turquoise. A colorblind man sees a flower, it is light-green. A dog sees a flower it is dark blue. A blind man doesn’t see the flower. A woman born with more cone photoreceptors in her eyes can see a spectrum of more colors: she says it’s “_____” (not yet identified color). They are all looking at the same flower. These are all relative observations, so who is to conclusively describe the color of the flower? Nobody. Not a single one knows the true color of the flower, but at the same time they all know the color of the flower. The flower is all colors, and it is but one.

*Key point: The body’s perception of the flower is distorted, so the reality experienced by the mind becomes only relative. Because each of our experiences of the universe have to first pass through a flawed medium (the physical self), the final experience we receive is impure and diluted. The colors they each see are real and false at the same time. Each person witnesses a different color. What is thetrue property of the flower itself? Does it have no color? Or is it all colors? The answer to this lies in the realm of the absolute, something our physical bodies cannot translate or experience.

What Happened When The Man Was Shot

A man is shot in the back, killed instantly by a passerby. There are several witnesses and this is what they say. A woman says that it happened very quickly and that it looked painless and calculated, as horrible as it was. A child says that it was the longest happening he has ever seen; he wonders why no one saved the person. A man says that this was a tragedy, and that “random” and “senseless” violence is disgusting and pitiful. A man says he saw the gunman earlier pacing back and forth near a bus stop, like he was planning something. One last girl says that she knew the man who was shot: it was an ex-boyfriend that abused her; she says it was good riddance. The perceptions they have made are both true and untrue.

*Key point: It is both random and not random depending on perspective. The perspective makes your personal observation true and untrue. It is random if you believe it to be, but it is also not random. The tragic nature of the killing is also a perception. Something is tragic only in relation to one’s own beliefs. Is it tragic that the man died? It is all perspective. The variable of time also comes into play: time just is, but it is also perceived and measured at varying levels. To say that something happened quickly or slowly is a perception of time. Time only flows at one speed, but is perceived on infinitely different levels.

My House

I have a house. I say the house is worth $100,000. A real estate appraiser says it’s actually only worth $90,000. A monk says it’s worth nothing. A monopoly owner says it’s worth $300,000 and he’s willing to pay cash upfront for it. A bird flies by and shits on it and doesn’t consider its worth whatsoever. A kid, who is the son of the previous owner, thinks that there is no price that can match the value that it means to him because he has lived there his whole life until his family moved out. Who is right?

*Key point: They are all right and none of them are right. The house has no inherent value because all the values given to it are relative to the person ascribing the value. The relative nature of value means that there are no true values for anything because everything is based on perspective. This is the separation of mind and matter. Because these values are relative, the house itself has no set value; it can be changed at any time. The significance of this very liberal nature of values is covered in my last point below.

The Relative and the Absolute – The Nature of Duality

The duality is what separates truth into two parts, two parts of the same whole: the perceived, relative truth, and the inherent, absolute truth. If something is perceived, the absolute truth cannot be understood. Absolute truth lies beyond the perception, because perception is only one filter that can be used to view something (it is merely one angle and not all angles).

The true significance of understanding the duality is the further understanding that nothing we perceive is set in stone. This means that old perceptions, ascribed meanings, and other “truths” can be overturned and rewritten. We as beings of perception are free to change our perspectives and ascribe new, relative values to things. We can overturn old traditions and ways of living and running society and install newer ones that we“see” fit. The duality makes us more humble when we come to understand that all distinctions are relative to something. To say we are “intelligent” is a relative statement, but this relativity goes both ways: in relation to ants we are more intelligent, but in relation to the rest of the ever-expanding universe we are likely not that intelligent (the possibility of more intelligent life in such a massive and mostly unexplored universe is extremele probable). Any perceived value is not an absolute truth but a relative one; a truth that we can empower or destroy at any time.

To say anything has value is to be on one side of the coin: one side of the duality. True values cannot be created because a true value would already exist inherently in the object. Relative values are “created”, but a better word is “perceived”: we perceive the value of something; we don’t really create a value. All perceived values are “false” in this sense because the other side of the coin cannot be perceived but merely acknowledged.

The False Nature Allows For The Redefining of All Things

The nature of duality is what makes society as a whole a collective “illusion”, a collective perspective or angle of looking at something. It is a true and real angle but doesn’t account for all possible angles. It cannot be all the possible angles; perception is limited to one angle. This is important to understand because it means that we can collectively view everything from another angle, a possibly better angle. To say that money is this important, that a thing is taboo, that one race is better than another, that one sex or gender is superior, or this distinction and that distinction… is seeing things from one angle. These are all relative truths, and they are far from absolute. Although these perceptions are true and false at the same time, it is their false nature that allows for the redefining of all things.

That is all. Thank you for your time, and practice this understanding by not clinging too tightly to a single way of thinking.

Original found @ highexistence.com