The Fine Art and Design Blog of Darren Daz Cox

It’s been theorized that the similarity between the structure of an atom and that of say the Earth and it’s moon is not a coincidence.

just imagine for a minute that there are no coincidences and that you are where you are not by chance or luck, good or bad but because you are where you want to be.

step outside of yourself for a moment and look in, imagine that the material world is like a 3d simulation and you are the person at the keyboard creating the scenareo, pick an online game such as the sims or secondlife or world of warcraft etc and your character is your body and the person at the keyboard is your soul, or higher self etc.

as above so below.

is it a coincidence that while I live in a small town that apparant random fate caused me to live in that one of my favorite sci-fi authors calls it home too? Phillip Jose Farmer, author of the classic Riverworld series, calls Peoria home too. He’s an old man now and I won’t bother him with fan-like behavior, but he’s a legend to me, as the hero in his Riverworld books, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMGFRGS (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was to him, and his alter-ego, Peter Jairus Frigate.

There are about a dozen authors who’s books I have read over and over since I was a kid, PJ Farmer is one of them others in the same genre include the mighty AC Clarke, RA Heinlein, Issac Azimov, AE Van Vogt and Harry Harrison.

Is it mere coincidence I live where one of my favorite authors lives? bare in mind that Peoria is only a quarter million or so people and not a suburb of a large city but is close to many of them, Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis are all just a few hours drive on flat, well maintained highways.

On Sunday at the Expo-gardens flea-market (junk sale) I picked up a copy of PJ Farmers ‘To Your Scattered Bodies Go‘ (for the sweet price of 25 cents). The novel is the first in the Riverworld series, and considered by many to be one the finest sci-fi novels ever written and I feel so happy to be reading it, well, I did find it while in the company of a charming young lady who we have code-named Mary Poppins, but that’s another story.

as above so below.

When I started reading it, and I must have read it at least a dozen times before over the years, I became so thankful for my ‘horrible’ memory. I was so happy that just about the only thing I remembered about the book was the hero, the reincarnated real life hero, Sir Richard Burton, and the fact that I loved the book.

I had even forgotton that one of my favorite Victorian painters, Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA (3 December1830–25 January1896) had painted the adventurers portrait and it is easy to see why Farmer chose Burton to be his protagonist as Burtons visage is a catalyst to vicarious adventure.

If Burton was an early 80’s punk rock band, he’d be the Misfits, not only did he have talent, guts and showmanship, he looked cool, shocked polite society and was totally unique.

Ok my point in this ramble is that there are many many seers and mystics that claim we, as immortal souls, conciously chose to forget our past lives and/or the fact of our immortality so that we can do what what we do here, as mortals, without a safety net or baggage depending on how you choose to see it.

so, as above, so below. My soul chose to make me think I’m just a mortal being, a product of biological processes and presumably I have a task but maybe that task is just to enjoy and appreciate and give back by creating my own art and fiction?

By not having an eidetic memory I was at the disadvantage of those who do remember all that they have seen as was Burton who failed his Arabic translators test, perhaps because of a brain fart, surely not from lack of immersion in the cutlure. Perfect memory is pretty handy if you take tests only having to read the material once! but how unsatisfying it must be to remember a great novel!

My ‘bad memory’ seems quite selective, as I remember most of the science and history I’ve read as well as the essoteric teachings of spiritual and religious ‘experts’, allowing me to ramble as I do here. So would it be fair to say that I have subconciously chosen to forget my favorite novels after a certain amount of time so that i can enjoy the pleasures of them again?

Is that why I’m here in this body today unaware of any past life or soul or the such but enjoying every second of the bountiful pleasures of life because I already know what a perfect day is but chose to forget so I could have another one?

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