essentially

how to get at essence..

words have their meaning respective of their uses. the essential meaning behind a word is impossible to ascertain outside of culture. so the essence of a word is completely relative of the circumstance of its use. only the user can understand the essence being expressed, but doesn't understand the full essence behind its use because in communication there is the output and the input. the speaker can only know what's going on with the word on his side of speech. he can only guess how the listener will understand the word. so with words..essence can never be known by an individual.

but can distinct objects be understood essentially?

the essence of a specific dog is different than the essence of the concept of dog. the word dog represents the overall concept of all things in the category of dog - this is the essence described above as being relative to cultural use of the word. but my dog..rex..there's an essence to his being. i can't get at the full essence but I know that there is essential truth to his existence. the only essence i can realize is in my mind with respect to my subjective experiences of his being. nonetheless, outside of human experience, there should be some complete understanding of my dog's being. certainly not solely in Rex's mind..he can hardly form concepts.

are there any concepts that represent things completely essentially? is there a mind that understands all that is as it is?

this is god. this is the goodness that is. essence is goodness and clarity is known only by the whole of existence. the closer we come to understanding existence in essence, the closer we come to knowing goodness and the more suited we are to be good and act as best we can.

acquiring truth and opening the mind to understand multiple viewpoints can prove difficult. every one has only ever known the world from the view of the self..grasping reality from the ultimate perspective of all being requires taking a step back and forgetting about putting the self at the center. we are a part of something bigger and it's important we know our place.

everything has an essence and it can only be understood in its relation to the essence of all other things. to understand the essence of one requires an understanding of the essence of all. we can never attain perfect essential knowledge, but we can realize that there's always more to essence than what meets the eye and that realization can let us always strive to build a more substantial base of knowledge on the essence of reality

i sign my name

we all have our personal expressions of individuality. my signature is mine and represents a pattern only familiar to me. yours is yours and i could never replicate the smooth motion behind your expression.

there are other patterns of expression unique to each of us. our signature is just the most identifiable. it is identified not by the exact image presented, but rather by the method of stroke used to create the signature. it's easy to replicate an image..much more difficult to replicate the activity that went into creating said image.

security relies on expressions unique to individuals in order to keep information safe. signatures are the age-old method of representing individuality through expression to maintain security. recently, as computers have become more prevalent, there has been a revolution in securing information relying on other unique human expression.

some of that expression is purely physical - like face recognition, eye scans, and of course fingerprint scans..i logged in to my computer just now using a fingerprint scanner. you can always think of the movies at top-secret secure facilities where employees of the government or some sinister agency have to go through a series of scans before entering an off-limits room.

but this brings to mind minority report and the black market of eyes. or a number of other films in which people dismember those with access in order to pass an eye or fingerprint scan. this is when the unique motor expression comes into play. we need some expression that shows that the individual was aware that he was approving of some action with his unique personal expression.

signatures are too easily replicable. you can't get at the actual motion and method behind the creation of the image. who's to say it isn't forgery?

recently, there have been new attempts with pattern recognition software that takes a live feed of actual human action to break down the aspects unique to the individual. voice recognition is a prime example. another method still in the test phase uses eye-tracking to recognize unique patterns of eye saccades (the twitchy bounces your eye is constantly making when taking processing the visual field). each person's eye develops its own pattern for breaking down images and sticks to the pattern it's developed for itself. this all happens unconsciously to the individual, so there is no way of mimicking it. personally, i think this is pretty nifty..but isn't so practical in most scenarios where simple security is at stake.

for now, we can stick to signatures. we each have our own and, while they are fairly easy to replicate, it is also relatively easy to dispute the replication. if it's a real official document, you get a notary to witness you in the act of signing. if it's a check, then it's your check and your signature. all is good. as technology becomes ever more present, maybe the little signature screens used at grocery stores will become more popular and will have pattern recognition software to recognize the actual process of signing. who knows if this is even necessary though..things seem to be working fine as they are.

frank abagnale jr tempted us to catch him if we could..and we did. he joined our side in catching crooks like him. now we have computers to scan for slip-ups. my signature is mine because it is an expression unique only to the motions made by my hand. yours is yours. that's something that no other can take from us and make their own.

smiles and laughter

happy happy

hands are clappy

all this love makes me so sappy

funniness and bunniness

bringing nothing else but bliss

playing games and hearing words

for which we relate as they're heard

knowing that we both feel it

not sure what, don't let it quit

eye contact and seeing smiles

lets the feeling last a while

back and forth the laughter goes

building as happiness grows

mirror mirror..seeing your face

express my feelings in this place

you're not me and i'm not you

but at this time it all is true

this is goodness through and through

so let the laughter encompass

mind and being with happiness

share the feeling with a friend

know it will come to an end

and leave the self open to more

always free to laugh galore

smiles never hurt a fly

or any other sort of guy

genuity and realness win

hiding happiness is a sin

just leave your heart out and open

always ready to let love in

happy and good should be akin

smile, laugh, and always grin