rogue robots

"Inside you there's an artist you don't know about... Say yes quickly, if you know, if you've known it from before the beginning of the universe." -Rumi

Truman had Sylvia. Neo had Morpheus. EVE had Wall-E. Each had someone from outside their reality unexpectantly upset their apple cart, and offer a new clue to a new view.

Who did Wall-E have? Whom showed him a glimpse of freedom?

He's just minding his P's and Q's and doing what all Waste Allocation Load Lifter- Earth Class robots are programmed to do day in and day out, and he's been at it diligently for approximately seven hundred years. He does what every other engineered Wall-E does. Or, does he?

Some might say his emergent artificial intelligence emerged, thus evolving his program in some sort of genetic algorithm, yet that would be programmed behavior too. If that were the case, where was his emergent intelligence stored? What if we swap out his rusty parts, his memory cards, even the motherboard circuit board, would that contraption still be the Wall-E we know?

"I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it." - Morpheus

It's a habit of mind that thinks it needs to find answers out there to squelch our fear of the unknown. You might compare this habit to a computer program, and the unknown to consciousness, or spirit. I broke free of the programming in April 2006, however, since the program was and is still installed, it is possible to revert back to it...and unfortunately, I have most of the last 18 or so months.

"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind, that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation, is the dawn of wisdom. To want nothing of it, to be ready to abandon it entirely, is earnestness." - Sri Nisargadatta

Trash compacting seems pretty cut-and-dry, it doesn't serve any functional purpose to dance or hold hands. No computer engineer (I'm one, or more aptly, I was) would bother creating a sophisticated A.I. for a simple robot (too unpredictable to be left unattended like Wall-E units were).

So what explains Wall-E's self-awareness and innate quirkiness? Me, I think that precisely because Wall-E was the very last robot he was no longer surrounded by programming and programs reinforcing his adherence to his own embedded programs. I think this made for optimal conditions where his spontaneous spirit eventually rebelled, revealed and reveled.

Yup, I'm a rogue robot again! (Inside joke if you watched the film.)

p.s. That's the whole idea to a media fast - to allow space for your consciousness to come forth, without incessant mirrors and overlays of programs. inviting a feast for the spirit, a flowering for spontaneity.

Comments

[William]

An observation on the fast.

References to the rich variety of visual and literary artists seemed to have been removed and replaced by contemplations of popular movies. What are we or should we be fasting from when we decide to fast?

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

Fair point, William. The fast hasn't started yet. Saturday. But I'd include other people's art and works too in that fast. It's just for a week!

Isaac Newton had nearly two years self-study when Cambridge closed down because of the plague; Buckminster Fuller took a 2-year vow of SILENCE to purge other people's concepts out of his mind; Bob Dylan after a motorcycle accident went into the Big Pink house, went within to compose/develop his own style without the popular 60's music surrounding him, hounding him. Just a few examples of going within. Like Terence McKenna said "Create your own road show."

I was curious about popular media lately, especially popular films since that seems to be the way the zeitgeist and programmed symbols are coming through these days. Even paintings contain much of the same symbology as I'm noting in popular media.

I was curious where these influences are coming from. Is it really "us" deep within, our own inspiration, are we channels for the Source? - or are we merely being programmed by the media and their masters to be THEIR channels (and robots)?

I've been noticing that in cities, artists have been making art for other artists...poets go to the readings, artists go to the gallery openings. Everything starts to look like the same. It could all be in Juxtapoz next issue.

Truthfully, I'm not into writing that much these days. I'm working on an installation idea. But even I need to do some purging of other peep's concepts, media inundation, etc.to do something fresh, and really like an INITIATION for me and the viewers. "Vincent Van Gogh gave the most demanding definition of painting. It was a process of initiation. He had to make visible that which could not be seen without painting." (-"Van Gogh: The Passionate Eye")

I have a few posts on Van Gogh, James Turrell up my sleeve coming up too. Hang in there...

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

The fast might make more sense watching this short video, "Reclaim Your Mind, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARIG-BQRATs (Personally, highly don't recommend McKenna' other vid's regarding 2012 and psy- drugs).

"Don't watch TV. Don't read magazines. Don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow." - Terence McKenna