Thursday, November 14, 2024

Blokus Wars

    The little square said to the big square, you are four times my size. The little L said that the big L, you are one block longer than me. The five-square shapes were larger than the 4-square shapes, but they did not boast about it. The 3-square shapes knew they'd be selected last, or possibly abandoned, yet they served.
    All the 5-square shapes joined ranks, conspiring to reach the center faster than the other side. They zigzagged in a razzmatazz, lances drawn with pizzazz. Forward they cried, the smaller pieces picking up the rear. In a disembodied, shapeless pattern they lay down their lives on the board, filling squares on the checkered battleground.
    Breaching the center, they cried with triumph, as the longest piece blocked the enemy from flanking. In parallel ribbons, their offense became defense, filling the voids left from within. Second colors joined in the ranks, forging a quadruple rainbow of frenzy. To the four corners they expanded, taking up space where they could, grasping for extra life, clawing at inevitable spaces for survival.
    The colors were rivers of compromise, redirected by external choice. They danced with their opponent like yin and yang, in a finite braid. They took what the environment gave them, as people often will. The few that were left did not succumb to failure, only the sadness of being unneeded.
    When the war was over, the squares that were still open sighed at not being covered, yearning for one of the unfit shapes to transform into something that would. Structurally the matrix decoded a blueprint unique to the observer, who followed their circuits into pathways of oblivion. Only the blocks were ignorant of their significance, the mysterious chain of decisions that had determined their fate.

Monday, November 4, 2024

Deism, The Teleological Argument

    Imagine you are stranded on island. You find a complex contraption like a watch that couldn't have been designed by nature. You assume it must have been designed by intelligent beings. When we look at nature, we see a far greater and more complex design. The Teleological Argument suggests that our assumption of an intelligent designer of the watch parallels a designer of the universe on a far grander scale. Deists believe that God is the intelligence behind the orderly structure of the cosmos, having revealed the laws of his design through reason. The inference is that science is more capable of exploring God than faith. There are no divine miracles or revelations that prove the existence of God, only the miracle of an infinitely complex universe with systematic processes.
    A refutation of the Teleological Argument is that it is assumed the watch finder can tell the difference between a design and a non-design. Since the watch is found to be designed, it would seemingly imply that other things around them are not designed. Yes, there cannot be anything in nature with random appearances, so it follows that the watch finder perceives a design in anything they are seeing. My response is, why shouldn't they? A random universe without patterns would be one without reason; there wouldn't be any evidence of a design. So long as reason is the fabric of design, it doesn't matter if a human created it or some other sentient being. A human invention involves no less reason than an alien invention or the physics of the cosmos. A deist doesn't worry about such distinctions.

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Rain Nymph

 I woke to the sound of falling rain
 Soaking my sleep clean of the dream,
 Where you looked to the sky as it beat
 Off your face trickling down
 The jungle leaves surrounding you,
 Pattering your closed eyelids,
 Purifying air that refreshed your grace,
 Soiling you to the ground that planted
 Ornaments of youth in my head.
 So fresh, so clean,
 The rain that feeds my heart
 Trickling down, soaking my pain,
 Draining my brain of the gothic muse
 To nurture pearls of flowers
 That bloomed at your feet,
 Screened you from the warmer months
 When the sun melted your skin,
 Cracked your bones, parched your hair,
 Discarded the heavy leaves
 Above you that heaven purged
 Beyond awareness.
 Every year, starting November,
 It rains for days, for months,
 For three quarters of the year,
 Floods my consciousness
 With Gregorian chant
 Channeling some Byzantine goddess
 That engraved your beauty through mist,
 Saturating me
 With the tears you left.

Hell and Heaven in Eastern Religions

    Contrary to popular opinion, most religions of the east have a version of Hell. They just aren't as widespread in popularity as they...