Avoiding the benign terror.

Mathematical 'Art'

I was having a discussion on the internet with my friend who shall be called Dave.  Several other's got involved and then Dave said to me "When I tell you I 'feel' God you can't feel what I feel yet because you haven't felt what I've experienced."  He went on to say "What you are seeing right now is the worldly things... Negative things... And in all the beautiful sunsets where I see God the Artist, you see science and death."

Well I got mad.

No Dave - That is neither correct nor fair.  I think you are projecting your subconscious onto me.  It seems to me it is possibly you who fears that the alternative to your sense of euphoria is misery or, as you put it, "science and death" as if it is cold and meaningless.

As it happens I have had very similar 'feelings' to the one's you describe.  I experience the profound joy of being alive and the sense of awe at the complexity, beauty and wonder of it all.  If I come across at times as 'negative' it is precisely because I think life is sacred and irreplaceable.  I am appalled by the inhumanity, death and destruction that is wrought in God's name on this planet.  I am angry, very angry, and with good reason.  My humanity bleeds for the pain and suffering of millions on this earth and I spend a lot of my time concerned and puzzling over it.  If my life is worth anything it is to bear witness to the truth of what is going on.  Many people would rather feel happy in their ignorance and that is a viable option but what I see is people afraid to view the terror that is rampant in this temporal existence.  If I choose to carry a disproportionate volume of pain that is my choice (as much as any of us has any choice).  I would suggest that I am actually far more in tune with what Jesus stood for than 90% of practicing Christians.  I say that from quite a lot of experience including being a practicing Christian for many years and attending possibly the best Roman Catholic private school in the UK and spending many hours discussing theology with seminary students and priests.

I made a film called "Recoil" many years ago.  It was entirely abstract with nothing 'recognisable' in it and wholly black and white with a sound track composed jointly by myself and Cabaret Voltaire.  It was viewed by a priest who knew nothing of my motive but he understood exactly what it was about.  He described it as genius.  It was about God recoiling at the realisation of what he had created.  I mention this just to add substance to my claim of sincere involvement and awareness of those issues that most people associate with religion and in particular Christianity.  I understand religion far better than most and have, ironically, probably had more conversations with God than the proverbial 'hot dinners'.

So by all means discuss religion with me but please don't tell me I "haven't experienced it yet" or try to convert me to some blissful interpretation of God which, in my humble opinion, is an escape clause.  Christ didn't die for no reason; he died, as is so often explained, for our sins.  But that is not a get out clause to carry on with gay abandon killing and maiming children with impunity to protect our own sense of wellbeing and happiness - which is how a lot of people treat it.  You are not singularly responsible for the deaths of thousands, actually millions, across the Middle East but I don't see you lobbying against your government to stop this insane war machine where they are unleashing the most sophisticated 'scientific' technology of death upon millions of civilians in the Middle East.  That is the real cold hard "science and death".

I profoundly, and with every fibre of my existence, object to this wholesale industrial slaughter being perpetuated by our cultures.  No - Christianity is about standing against oppression.  It was never meant to be a cushy ride and using God and the Church to gain a sense of peace and contentment for one's own sake in spite of the dysfunctional trauma being perpetrated by our societies is an affront to the man who stood against authoritarian hierarchy and oppression and died on a cross for our sins.

He knew, because it is predictable, that they will kill anyone who stands against them.  It is not a fiction or a practise run - it is real life and real death.  The profundity of death is we have no real way of not seeing it as the end.  It is the terminal meaninglessness of our existence staring us inescapably in the face.  This is why Christ descended into hell before ascending to heaven.  It is the absolute hopelessness that has to be experienced before the revelation of the incredible wonder that is reality.  Most Christians simply sidestep that fearful awareness and continue to delude themselves that it will be alright in the end.  There is only one way it will be alright and that is when we wake up to the fact that this is reality, this is God, this is what it is about.  In Christian terms this is absolute - this is sacred - if you can't value and respect it as the very existence, the very becoming, of God then it is a charade and a falsehood.

In fact the tragedy is that by avoiding the benign terror that is the revelation we project it onto others.  Hence the cultural fear of terrorists giving rise to the 'justification' for being the harbingers and executors of death (real death) to millions of others.  We become our own worst fears.  No Dave, I am not ignorant of God, I fear and love God.  But I cannot indulge in the now entirely corrupt material world manifestation of the false religion maintained by the very hierarchy that Jesus objected to.  And to add to your education I also produce beautiful mathematical, scientific, 'art' to add to the delights on this planet too.  And here is a wee example [at top of blog page]:

You can see more at

http://samspruce.deviantart.com/gallery/33264046/Patterns

or

http://www.toxicdrums.com/gallery/index.htm

:)

I hope my emotional creative writing has conveyed a little more of my passion and beliefs. ;)

STOP PRESS: Cameron supports Scottish Independence.

Cameron raises Saltire over 10 Downing Street in support of Scottish Independence.

Official - David Cameron supports Scottish Independence!

It seems David Cameron has read my letter to him.  And in a desperate attempt to exonerate himself from any collusion with the rogue Chancellor's illegal actions of attempting to affect the outcome of the Scottish Referendum on Independence by foul means of bribery and corruption the Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron MP, has shown his support for the "YES" vote for Scottish Independence by raising the Scottish flag, the Saltire, above 10 Downing Street.

The Saltire has been the main icon associated with the "YES" vote in the referendum and Mr Cameron has decided to show his support by raising the Scottish National flag above his official residence.

In an interview David Cameron was thought to have said "It weren't me mate, it were him [George Osborne] wot done it.  I never tried to bribe anybody.  I support Scottish Independence.  That's why I've got a Scottish flag flying over 10 Downing Street."

Many Scottish Conservatives are now changing their vote to a "YES" vote because they simply follow their leader without a thought.

I would like to add my thanks to David for being such a sport and helping to promote the good cause of Scottish Independence.

Letter to Cameron re Osborne's poisoned chalice.

David Cameron MP Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 10 Downing Street London SW1A 2AA

8 September 2014

Dear David Cameron

Could you please inform me (and the general public) whether you authorised George Osborne's claims, on 7 September 2014, regarding more autonomy for Scotland which were reported in numerous national papers.  Is this an official Conservative Party policy announcement or an arbitrary unofficial pronouncement with no authority?

The Guardian reported that Osborne said "... a plan of action to give more powers to Scotland. More tax powers, more spending powers, more plans for powers over the welfare state." and went on "... the moment there is a no vote in the referendum."

I bring this to your attention urgently because if the Chancellor has gone rogue I fear your silence on the matter may make you and the Conservative Party accessories to the illegal act of attempting to affect the results of a referendum with bribery at the eleventh hour.

A veritable poisoned chalice from which you may be inadvertently drinking.

This is a very serious matter and I would appreciate your urgent response.

Yours sincerely




Sam Spruce
B.A. M.Sc. MBCS CITP

photo credit (image altered by TD): The CBI via photopin cc

My letter to Cameron re. George Galloway attack.

David Cameron MP Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 10 Downing Street London SW1A 2AA

2 September 2014

Dear David Cameron


I was shocked to hear of the attempted murderous assault on George Galloway MP in London on Friday 29 August 2014 resulting in a dislocated jaw, severe injuries to his skull and broken ribs.

I am even more shocked at the deafening silence emanating from Westminster and in particular you and your Conservative Party over this matter.

Your contradictory messages are becoming bewildering.  It seems your government can support the murder of thousands of dispossessed civilians in a besieged enclave including hundreds of children and all done with internationally illegal weapons and entirely against international law.  You fortify Cardiff to a ridiculous extent, inconveniencing the local population to a serious degree, to protect a bunch of foreigners who seem to want to vilify Russia, without reasonable evidence, for being next door to a country whose democratically elected government were overthrown by a violent coup which you support.  You happily respond to a hoax video of a journalist being executed in a Guantanamo Bay jump suit by an alleged Islamic State persona by attempting to terrorise the British public that dangerous "terrorists" are going to attack us all in our beds and to attempt to introduce new laws which are utterly draconian to the point of being against international law and the Declaration of Human Rights.  But on the subject of an elected, and well respected, British Member of Parliament being savagely assaulted and nearly killed on a street in London you remain silent.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the Tory Party is a bunch of intellectually challenged rich thugs who think themselves above the law and are happily desecrating British society sending this country into the Dark Ages whilst getting high on one drug or another.  There seems not one ounce of political integrity in the whole Tory Party.

Consider me profoundly shocked.


Yours sincerely




Sam Spruce
B.A. M.Sc. MBCS CITP

Parochial incitement: The ugly return of anti-Semitism

A still from CNN video

Yet another unfortunate post by a sadly parochial American.  I post this on my blog to illustrate that we have a problem in the world and it is not simply that some people are wrong.  The people are being fed a bizarre manifestation of a false simulacra and cannot get themselves out of the matrix.  It is therefore important to dissolve the fabrication to afford vision to the people who are currently dreaming the nightmare.  They are not bad people - they are damaged and anaesthetised.

I don't like posting warped propaganda on my blog but in order to address the problem it needs to be understood.

My friend "Dave" (as he shall be known) posted the following on Facebook:

The ugly return of anti-Semitism By Timothy Stanley
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/01/opinion/stanley-return-of-anti-semitism/index.html

... and so I responded:

What are you trying to suggest Dave?  Are you posting this to illustrate the mind-blowing stupidity of CNN or the parochial ignorance of the American people?  Please get your head out of the sand and notice the protests are anti-Israel.  Israel is THE major cause of anti-Semitism in the world by claiming itself to be a "Jewish State" as if Jews agree with the wholesale slaughter of victimised and dispossessed people.  This is deliberate warmongering and your country - your government - are the primary instigators of this devastation of civilisation.  Grow up and take a look at the wider picture.

Who armed the revolting Islamic State murderers?  Where did they get all their funding and their money?  Go and find out.  I can tell you it was the USA but you don't have to believe me.  But if you are unwilling or unable to look to find out then you have no business demonising them as if they are not your very own government protégé.  It is quite deliberate to raise the spectre of "terrorists on our streets" and "anti-Semitism on the rise" to inflame the situation and justify wholly ridiculous laws to restrict your freedom to keep you under control.  Have you bothered to read up on the history of Israel to inform yourself of the historical facts?  Have you any idea how many international laws Israel has breached?  Are you aware of the number of UN resolutions Israel and the US have totally ignored?  How many otherwise unanimous resolutions the US has vetoed to prevent Israel being held to account?  How many violations of human rights in their obsessive pursuit of the oil reserves in the Middle East?  Do you not realise they are deliberately causing chaos to justify their continued barbaric assault on the world at large?

How can you not see your own concerns about the militarisation of your own police as connected to the overall policy of oppression and control by your own government?  Are you not aware that the militarisation of your domestic situation is entirely designed and implemented by the same policies being nurtured in Israel?  Do you think it a coincidence that all your ranking police are sent to Israel on courses with the IDF to learn how to oppress and control a population?

It is no hyperbole to say that the heinous illegal weapons such "White Phosphorus", "Flechette" and "DIME" which Israel has been using on the ghettoised population in Gaza are being tested for use on the American population.  Get out of your fear zone and look at the bigger picture Dave.  Please.