World of Jonathan berman

This world just goes a little crazier every day
I'd swear someone was feeding it junkfood.

Channel Zero uses a lot of misdirection... the camera will show a man walking looking around... the camera will pan fast to a box lets say... then back to the man who suddenly sees something... we instantly might think he just saw the box, but then he's looking at something else... misdirection. They showed us the box, they showed him some photos...

I guess the next question is, what that simple misdirection or was it a clue? Is that box important? I'm guessing it was just simple misdirection, but if that box comes back around I won't be surprised.

We don't judge a flower by its thorns, so why must I hate you for your imperfections, when its the grooves of the record that give us music, it's the carved valleys that give us rivers and bloodstreams... and the crack that lets in the light (thank you Leonard Cohen for that one).

And those who would believe their normalcy to be an admirable quality are as wrong as those who are ill at ease with their own unique gifts. It is far better to be a lunatic at peace than a well-adjusted sheep.

I bring you positivity.
Every little ounce of me.
Am I a cat or a bumblebee?
We've all got different weaponry.
But no one can live a beautiful life in fear.
So love me like the world has disappeared.

No matter how much rain may fall, it can never fall as hard as tears in rain. A million pounds of rain will never weigh as much as a single teardrop.

Isn't that fun?

When someone likes my posts, this is what it means to me and what you’re in for if you choose to walk this road:

#1 - I am convinced that there is a small group of people or person (which would then no longer be a group but an individual) who are liking my posts in order to bring me back to the post so that I will fix any grammatical errors. Ergo, life is a teacher.

#2 - some other ungodly treason oops i meant reason... or did i?

#3 - I feel like i have to finish my facebook posts with the same care as closing out a Ouija board session.

#4 - #3 wasn’t actually a reason, more of a confession. #4 is more of a cliff note... I predict great things from #5 though, so read on... if you da... are taking a piss right now and there isn’t a paperback copy of chicken soup for the soul laying around. And without further ado....

#5 - IS ALIVE!!!!!

Sorry, I had to do it, I’m a product of the ‘80s. Could be worse, I could be a byproduct.

#6 - just kidding there’s no #6, this is really becoming the story of Grover and the Monster at the End of This Book... I seriously loved that book when I was a kid... I think I will always love that book, I always felt for that hungry caterpillar though... i think the first movie to make me cry was “the red balloon”.

#7 - Thank you.

Symbols for equality should be like: moths, cannabis and dandelions. The helpful things we've been brainwashed against for no good reason...

Late into my teens, years after reading JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series, multiple times each... learning the music, exploring the maps, and the world of Middle Earth, I found The Shannara Chronicles, and it was a nice, light departure from the world of Tolkien, but also good in its own right. I am however wary about the series that is currently early on into its second season... this is a book that in the wrong hands can definitely go either way, between true wonder and Twilight blunders...

I can see why Mandy Patinkin left Criminal Minds. He stated it was because the show turned out to be a lot more gratuitously violent then he was told it would be going in. Of course, to get him on board they likely told him what he wanted to hear, then get him to sign, and obligate him to the show for X amount of years... not unheard of in the entertainment industry, they'd say it's because they put a lot of money into a series, and want to ensure it doesn't lose money, but they show their true colors when they lie to the talent about what they're signing up for... which means talent needs better representation... and the whole system needs to grow some integrity, focus on mutuality, instead of the micro-exploitation of others for personal gain.

While intelligence wants to challenge prevailing limitations in thought process as a means of survival... for example, if you had what you considered to be a problem, and asked in scenario A, Linda is a bank teller, and in scenario B, Linda is a bank teller and part time activist, which is Linda?

Now, the brain looks to probability, the heart looks to what the heart wants to see... filling in the blanks with rationalizations and empathy... but the facts are simply, we know she's a bank teller because it is the only consistent. That is the probability... but it is still only a probability... just because we are looking at 2 worlds, does not mean the infinite are also there, but the ones we see, do show a consistency to base direction toward » Probability. But to what end?

This isn't a problem per se, but I believe we're ready for more challenging, more productive debate than sorry, that's too esoteric, just say, "When you assume you make an ass out of you and me". It's a little Zen to surmise, at least then you'll be able to say "ass" in a classroom... but then the real problem is,
which path will we pursue? Indulgence in the simple, or the path of understanding?

I'd say it's important to embrace both in equal measure.
You cannot pick the fruit if you do not tend to the soil.

The NFL never should have taken money from the govt for displays of patriotism... in fact that shouldn't even be legally binding... forcing players to stand or do anything during the anthem, attaching money and obligation to it is fascism. How is threatening loss of career for not being patriotic any different from North Korea's threatening labor mines? They're the exact same thing. Trump is turning America into North Korea.

In the continuing saga of my grandfather's favorite watch, which I had restored and re-banded a few years ago... because it wasn't keeping proper time and the Speidel band was murder on my nickel sensitivity... you can't actually call it an allergy, because nickel is a natural toxin that some are merely more sensitive to than others... but this week I replaced the leather band I didn't feel really fit the watch, with a new nickelfree Speidel band, and it looks perfect...

I love how Hitler was supposedly so into esoteric ideas and magic, yet he didn't know that interracial relationships actually make stronger offspring, not weaker... for how smart he was supposed to be, he was really naive and paranoid, and that naivete and paranoia was exploited quite easily by those around him... kind of like the way Trump has been convinced of voter fraud that never happens because the dead and the moved double registrations, don't actually vote... everyone has blind spots, but a leader with profound ignorance, narcissism, and a lack of empathy is always a vehicle for evil by the greedy and the corrupt.

Pumpkin Spice Mocha tastes like licking the backseat of an old stationwagon that's been sitting in the sun too long.

When "Melania Trump hits back at Ivana for calling herself the 'first lady" is what's trending, you have reached the halfway point in the movie Idiocracy.

We are living in a cautionary tale like a cruel holodeck... Because no matter how much the people want to regain their sanity, every aspect of our society is maligned to deter them from doing so... which is why alcohol and cigarettes and all consciousness-constricting crap including pharmaceuticals are legal, and yet every consciousness raising resource is criminalized. And why? Because they wanted to destroy competition for money and help in validating racism encouraged by an ignorant voter population they controlled through fear and misinformation... reefer madness. Plastics, paper, open carry bigotry... all part of the show you don't remember buying a ticket to see...

Stop eating the crap they designed to keep you down. Smoking the cigarettes they designed to keep you sick. Taking the education they designed to keep you dumb. You must be a warrior for your truth.

When you feel disconnected, it's because you're looking for the voice when you should be listening to it.

A Ren is less a place to relive the past than it is to create a new brighter world that captures the spirit of our past, thus realigning the divine in nature.

People hide in the obvious because it's safe, but a life without surprises is no life at all.

The world says you were meant to stand out, then uses it as the reason to tear you down. Learning how to deconstruct and recreate yourself makes you invulnerable, because if you're using all criticism as an opportunity to reflect and grow, you will never be triggered by anything or anyone. Embrace all, neither fight or flight from life's opportunities... and everything is one.

In Dune, the saying is, whoever controls the spice controls the world. I feel that way when it comes to my cats with catnip. I might feel like I'm dishing it out to them like a drug dealer, but cats have super fast and hypersensitive metabolisms, so I kinda feel like I'm dispensing medicine like medical marijuana just without the red tape.

We all know America is corrupt. That's why they do nothing about guns. That's why BP got a slap on the wrist and called too big to fail by Obama. (And you thought I only spoke truth to Trump...) I mean wake up, people. Corporations are people? Money is speech? Super Pacs? Corporations care about bottom lines not people. Again, wake up. Corporations as people and money as speech means corporation's best interests decide everything, and not human rights or well being, or even the well being of the country. There is no love, no loyalty in the halls of power. And until these laws are changed, America will sink, weighed down by the anchors of greed and corruption which are dragging her down.

The first two songs in the Moana soundtrack fill me with a profound feeling that is nearly impossible to put into words... perhaps it is like filling a bottomless hole with the ocean, only to discover you were simply reflecting the ocean all the while, all the work polishing mirrors and trying to create clarity... it was always there, the world an empty mirror, but forever full at the same time. There was nothing to seek, nothing to suffer for, but suffering breaks the armor that kept us from ourselves all the while...
Simply put, we all feel connected in our own ways, and where we find them doesn’t matter, only that we do.
The village believes in us
the village believes
The island gives us what we need
We build our future together where we are
You can find happiness right where you are.
This movie and soundtrack is so underrated.
Song 3 and 4 are a beautiful dance celebrating the spirit of songs 1 and 2.

I've defined a genre of music... when a horror movie takes a beautiful song and turns it dark and terrifying... I call it Classical Doom, like what the movie 1408 did for The Carpenters' We've Only Just Begun, or Donnie Darko with Mad World by Tears for Fears... there are thousands of examples... but now you can categorize them under their new name: Classical Doom.

I have around 500 albums, and when I was thinking about what to play earlier I was going to put on Christopher Young's soundtrack to the movie Haunted Summer. I got caught up with other things, and now, a few hours later I was thinking of what to play, and decided to click the randomize option in my discogs music library of all my 500 albums, and the random title it chose was Christopher Young ‎– Haunted Summer (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

It's these "coincidences" that can make one feel like when we are truly listening, we become one with the script of the universe, and it always comes back to remind us... I know that's 'out there' thinking, but the ability to imagine possibilities is how we survive.

I brought myself a glass of water, but Shadow wanted it. I felt like the parent bringing the sleeping child a glass of water in the middle of the night... how cool is that?

The Secret Service can vacation for the foreseeable future... all the crazies they had to protect the last president from are this one's best supporters.

If I had a gmail account full of astrological readings, I'd feel better and a purer sense of closure emptying my inbox than I would ever glean from reading one of those horoscopes.

I choose to live, because I know I see things in this world, beautiful things in nature and music and people, and though I try to share these things with people and most don't get it or have time to give it a chance... and that disconnect can feel lonely, I think in the end we have to honor our own experience...

I remember on an episode of Hell's Kitchen, sorry Master Chef, but still applies as it's about Gordon Ramsey... so a contestant told another contestant if they want to do well, ignore Ramsey, and Ramsey flipped out on him, because it was blatantly disrespectful, the thing is... the guy wasn't wrong. If you are pushing yourself based on Ramsey yelling at you, and just rushing, your food will be no good...

it's important and any chef knows this, to be in tune in your kitchen... cooking is a bit like a dance, with a little bit of juggling thrown in, as you're considering timers in your head, scheduling, flipping foods perhaps, saucing, limiting heat, etc... it's a dance and you can't hear the music when a blowhard like Gordon Ramsey is yelling insults at you... and he should know this better than anyone, but he's a colossal sellout, watch any of his shows in the UK, he doesn't act like that... this is just the dumbing down of America, in action.

Yes, the man can prepare food, he can cook, he's got a touch for sure, but then enough stupid game shows, do something meaningful with your career.

Dalai Lama said, if you can't help people at least don't hurt them, and Ramsey's methods have become hurtful to chefs. It teaches them to be angry robots who can make the same four meals for 15 years.... that's not cooking, that's like comparing Yoga of the East with a cardio routine called Yoga in the West, thanks Beachbody and others for that neutering, declawing, and brain numbing take on a beautiful connecting spiritual experience.

It can take half a lifetime learning to believe in yourself, and the other half learning that is enough.

Here's the problem I have with the popular attack on thoughts & prayers. While thought should lead to action, those who are not in a position to act have a valid reason for saying thoughts and prayers... Bill Maher misses the nuance because he'd rather go for the easy laugh stating, thoughts and prayers are opposite, but they're not meant to be synonymous... they're meant to be complimentary, you see thoughts represent the mind and prayers represent the heart. When someone says thoughts and prayers, what they mean is, you're in my heart, you're my mind. Obviously, this is all a kneejerk reaction to the Republicans believing more in noble words than noble deeds, but instead of pointing to the hypocrisy, people point to the words themselves, which is ironic because these same people, Bill included, understand that kneeling isn't a protest against the national anthem, heck, he kneeled on his own show in solidarity.... but his is primarily a kneejerk reaction to religion and its customs in general, so I consider that a verifiable blindspot for him, but that is why we must educate these nuances, and share our own understanding....

We can wash the hands from our dirt.
Bring me the world, cos the pain doesn't hurt.

I wear your education on my ring finger, so that I even my brightest thoughts are seen through the prism of humility and curiosity, focused on learning, and not gloating.

I wear your clarity on my middle finger to show that I stand for my beliefs, and back them up with honesty.

I wear your garb on the other hand just to remind myself to balance the known with the unknown, to bounce ideas off another, and to maintain balance in this world.

But I who am naked, who supports these houses on my hillsides, and the anchors on our ships, listen like the sun indulging in the sunset, but awakened ever by morning dew.

We’ve forgotten how to forgive and be vulnerable, instead we’ve all got something to prove, all we are is our image now and people have forgotten they are not their image, they are a human being, fallible, vulnerable, and we all need to remember that listening and feeling are not a weakness they are a path to our strength.

Some people you can’t talk to, they’re just demented. The way they process information, how self absorbed and defensive they are, just difficult people, who aren’t considerate, you won’t get along with everyone, but you can certainly choose who you spend your time with.

We've had 44 male presidents in a row, and everything has turned to shit, so lets try a woman, just any woman, my vote? A school teacher. They have the most patience, compassion and ability to work selflessly under profoundly complex and near carnival juggler circumstances with little pay and protections or respect from the state or the nation, get a school teacher in there as president, with a solid science professorial heavy cabinet, lets try that for a change.

I figured it out. At 45 years of age. So, I dunno, is that early? Late? Or right on time? Whatever. The reason you should love your mother is because they gave you free room and board for 9 months, and they carried you around, so it's like you had an RV and never had to drive... that's a pretty sweet deal. Although another way to look at it is to ask yourself, "Why do I exist?" Because your parents had sex? They unlocked a door and you were there on the other side with your bags packed and big hopeful eyes? ... So yeah, love your mother or figure out how much 9 months room and board and RV rental would be and write her a check. Actually, that's a great idea, just a fake check, that would be fun... I'm gonna figure this out right now. I'll be back!

Studio Apartment in 1972: $150 avg. monthly x 9 = $1,350
RV Rental: $5 a day x average length of human gestation is 280 days = $1,400
Food: At an avg of $2 a day for 280 days = $60
Any pregnancy, hospital and delivery costs for one child in 1972 $2000

Babies who die before being baptised will no longer be trapped in limbo following a decision by the Pope to abolish the concept from Roman Catholic teaching.

Well if mankind can just decide what is and isn't happening in Heaven and Hell, isn't that proof that none of it is actually real?

I buy a record to listen to because I cherish the experience of putting on a record... physical things will always be more meaningful to us, no matter what convenience does for us, ie digital music, because we are physical, the experience of listening to analog music is more meaningful. It's a deeper shared language.

Don't look for happiness in expectation and disappointment, in fact, don't look for it at all... instead, listen to life... that is happiness talking. Not the cacophony of human behaviors, but beyond that, in space, in waves, in breaths, and in beats.

The only way I can see that chemtrails might exist is if a well-financed terrorist wanted American citizens to distrust their own government in order to destabilize the nation and prepare us for a takeover...

I heard a black comedian say, whites are for the first time feeling like their govt has truly let them down fundamentally... that's privilege cos we’ve felt that way for 400 years.

In the fight for good and evil, if each one is a wolf, which wolf wins?
the one you feed.

When you live through the eyes of your appetites, you stop seeing the world, you stop seeing the shared plight of mankind, you close your heart... but when you live through the eyes of compassion, you are the world, you share the plight, the purpose, and the solutions of mankind, you open your heart, you see things as they truly are... a living conversation.

Evil will kill for a vision, will destroy for a religion... and those who would express any humanity, would appear to be weak, for they are unwilling to go the distance... because evil believes there is a world after this one, and do not worry about driving the car off the cliff... in a way, Republicans these days are acting a lot like the Nazis in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Alzheimer's has shown up in our entertainment culture a lot lately and across all genres... from animation: Adventure Time to horror: Channel Zero, Drama: Still Alice, Family: A Short History of Decay, Horror again: The Taking of Deborah Logan and more... we speak of our monsters in real and metaphoric ways, from dream analysis to the preponderance of reason... and they are all here as teachers, as all things are our teachers, all moments, all opportunities... and it is for us to embrace them, no matter how challenging they become, in cultivating empathy and compassion so that we may recognize the teachers, listen deeply... for that is how we grow.

Donald Trump said he was the worst treated President in the history of presidents... so I guess we're just going to overlook the four that got murdered... and the black one.

The hallowed groves of ancient toes hold no grander place for me, than an autumn dreaming of my love in a moment here with thee.

Every meme is a false equivalency.
Every idea is half-baked.
Every prejudice is a fearful diagnosis.
Every trigger warning alarmed awake.

Every moment has its wings, if you will be its bird.
Every silence is a song, just waiting to be heard.
Every soft conclusion, every mourningful regret.
Is an opportunity in loving, and not merely tagged for debt.

I get it, I said it, I led you to the rock and bled it.
You took your key, the lock was confusing.
Hellraiser lamented for the drugs you were using.

I get it, I said it, I led you to the beast and fed it.
You took your sky, my clouds stayed weeping.
Poltergeist's children in empty arms you were keeping.

If open hands see only fists.
Then prayer and God are a broken wish.
And every breath a heartfelt kiss.
Every darkness a hugging bliss.
That you and love are all of this.

When I was in elementary school, and we were told to go out to the playground and stand in rows and say the national anthem, to me that was so insane that i refused to do it. I was like... 8 years old maybe. And I felt very clearly about why. I wasn't acting out, I wasn't being difficult... I simply could not follow something I did not understand. It felt like we were being enslaved to something we never signed up for, and that wasn't just scary to me, it felt very wrong.

So much of my life I spent obsessing over my mistakes, that I forgot how to recognize my own strengths

and achievements. Moments of selflessness not just selfishness. Dreams of possibility and not just a nightmare from which I dreaded to return.

Learning how to play one of my favorite, beautiful pieces of music on the piano, it's very easy... but so beautiful with the right tone and feel...

The movie Dead Awake has some good and bad, a lot of bad... I do find it impossible to take a movie seriously that explores sleep paralysis as an evil supernatural force seriously... when according to its own internal logic, if it's primarily a matter of belief-based vicious cycles, and that believing you can break it- breaks it, therefore they should not have to recreate the process for anyone watching the first person break it, as now they'd all believe it could be done. That aside...

I've never liked horror films or religions or woo woo healers who spread the idea that belief = reality... it is very common, and I think it's dangerous... the idea that if you are curious about something, you open a door.... this is a manipulation to get you to not think, to strait-jacket your own mind.

But know this... there is nothing you can think of that you cannot handle. You cannot create a mental boulder you yourself cannot move... but you can convince yourself that you have... that is the power of fear.

When people use your fear to get you to believe, that is indoctrination. That is psychological tyranny... and many religions play this card.

Peter Gabriel instrumental music goes with pretty much anything... I love to mix and match media for a new experience, like right now I'm listening to Peter Gabriel with Portlandia season 7... sometimes I'll find some instrumental music on youtube to play with a movie... it can be really amazing how the brain is wired to discover audio/emotional connections between mediums... kind of like if you are sleeping, and your brain incorporates an alarm or some other sound into your dreaming experience?

if you do what comes natural, you won't worry about being perfect, you'll be immersed in the more enjoyable world of being your authentic self.