LOST: Eternal love, the Celtic cross and other symbolism

LOST: 4815162342


What do you think the mysterious number on the ABC series "LOST" means? Does anyone have any ideas about this? Certainly the producers of this series have a surprise in store for the viewers. Will this be revealed anytime soon? Can anyone possibly guess what this mysterious number may possibly mean? Does the meaning which may be attributed to it by the writers or producers need to be its only meaning? Certainly when through the power of the mass media such a tale is created, then viewers may dream and imagine and create within their own minds alternate story plots, endings and even significance for such tales as the meaning of these mystical, repetitive numbers: 4815162342.

Given the popularity and fascination that the series "LOST" has created, I decided to make a series of designs related to this mysterious number. I also discovered that someone else has created a LOST web site at www.4815162342.com. How odd! Now that has to take the cake, a web site that is based upon a random number and a popular TV program.

Still, no one really knows what meaning, if any, writers and producers of "LOST" will attribute to this number. Perhaps they will just let it continue to be a matter of speculation. I have my own ideas in these regards. The number is symbolic of the ideal human bio mass of the planet Earth, such that any number of people over this amount will cause stress upon the planet and result in conflict to relieve that stress, such that in the series LOST, the button must be pushed evey 108 minutes, the clock to have begun ticking when this hypothetical number of people was reached. This would fit in with the story's plot, as that number had been reached and exceeded some years ago at about the same time that the biosphere project was originally created upon this fictional island in the South Pacific.

Apparently I am not the only person to come independently to this same conclusion as it was discussed on a thread on the www.4815162342.com board. I was not aware of this fact until after I made my original, unique matrix design attributing this number to world population. I had seen a counter of the world population growth at Disney World and knew that it was during the 1980's that the world population was on the order of 4.8 million. It was a simple logical association to conclude that the LOST series producers using 1980's technology for the period in which the biosphere was created to incorporate this number into their plot for the creation of a timing device. What is the purpose of such a device? Well, given these fictional Skinner klanners build their station upon a volcanic island, it would be logical to conclude that a dooms day device designed to trigger a volcanic eruption was build, to detonate when the world population reached 4,815,262,342, such that the counter must be reset each 108 minutes by human beings based upon the premise that sane humans still existed and were able to enter the code, that an interval of 108 minutes is used to involve cooperative effort as an indicator that sane humans existed. The dooms day device would, in theory, creat a volcanic eruption of such magnitude that it would block out the sun's light, cause a nuclear winter, and in so doing keep the planet's population in check.

As for the iconic 4815162342 number worshippers, the board creators obviously want to make a profit from their designs. The formula they are using is not so difficult to fathom. Simply create a popular board based upon a popular TV series and market merchandise via Cafepress.com. It does not take a genius to figure that out. As for what may be in the minds of the producers of "LOST" it is anyone's guess, but it, too, involves making a profit. Entertainment is big business and the motive behind the creation of television programing as well as movies is often dollars and cents. The number $4,815,262,342 may be how much money they hope to make before cancelling the series! :-)

However, I have another idea related to this matter, one which I fathomed while thinking about my dearest love, Nichole, and how much I missed her love. This rather large number is symbolic of how LOST one feels when they love someone and lose the object of their affection. Thus we are all "LOST" without love.

I have no delusions that the producers of "LOST" could have possibly conceived of such a romantic tale and attributed such a significance to this number. But the idea certainly is one which moves the heart to contemplation as is the idea that this may relate to the ideal projected human bio mass of the planet Earth, such that once this number is exceeded we are all LOST!

Thus the program has a powerful message in store for viewers, that the explosion of the world's population leaves us all doomed. Yet without love are not we doomed anyway? It is a world without love that really dooms each and everyone of us. This is why I have attributed another meaning to this number, that it is how LOST one feels when they are not in the arms of their lovers.

This is a very romantic idea and really it fits right in with the design series I have been working on while traveling around the world. The idea is to explore the wonders of the world and reflect those wonders as expressions and inspiration of love. This is the reason I have inset the wonders of the world upon Harmony Carpets and have used Star Burst Hearts as a motif in many of my designs.

The design below is one inspired by my deep affection for Nicole which I produced as an expression of "Eternal Love" for all lovers who would like to communicate this idea to others. When I was a Bryce Canyon in Utah hiking along a trail that went down into the canyon, I met a young woman and spoke with her about her religion. She said she was a Mormon and that the Mormon's believed in eternal love. She said that she was bound by her faith to only marry within her church, as only then would love be eternal.




A Symbol of Endless Love


It would seem to me that love is eternal, is endless by nature, and that it is only for humans to realize this to have and know endless love. Love, thus, is always had, is always found, and never lost, should one come to this realization within their own hearts. Although you may lose the object of your affections, love itself is never lost for love is within one's heart and thus is never lost.

The symbol I have use to express an endless, eternal love, is based upon the Celtic Cross. This is a cross such that the horizontal axis expresses a bond with the spiritual world and the vertical axis expresses an earthly world. The circle between the horizontal and vertical lines of the cross are symbolic of the infinite nature of God or Love. What I have done is to create a Harmony Carpet using 64 Celtic Crosses, ancient spiritual symbols, then producing a tile mosaic in which I have inset the Star Burst Heart. This provides a very beautiful design in which to express those sentiments most reflective of God, love and their infinite and/or eternal nature.

I used the Celtic Cross Harmony Carpet to produce a series of "God Is Love" designs and "Eternal Love" designs that are posted in the Byteland Art Gallery: Religious Themes Collection. Here you will also be able to find other designs I have created related to religion. It should be noted that I do not promote one faith over another, but rather, wish to promote all religions as an expression of God and love. This, however, does not mean I promote the traditional conduct engaged in by believers in any particular faith, especially when that conduct involves such hideous rituals as mutilation of female genitals so that women may not know the pleasure of sex.

What a number or what a symbol means, thus depends upon the meaning attributed to that number of symbol. A cross has no meaning until people adopt that cross and give it meaning. A swastika, left handed or right handed means nothing until it becomes adopted by people and used. The Romans used the cross to crucify those who rebelled against the state. A crucifix was a form of execution. But, ironically, the cross was adopted by Christians as a symbol of sacrifice, love and God. Thus a symbol of death and torture became a symbol of love and faith. Humanity, you see, controls the meaning attributed to symbolism, weather it be a Roman crucifix or a swastika.

This is why I wish to restore the original meaning and symbolism given to the swastika as a symbol of well-being and harmony. When the majority of humanity comes to realize that such symbols as the cross and the swastika are symbols of God and love, then it becomes very difficult for hate groups to pervert the usage of such symbols by adopting them and calling them their own.

As I have said before, this is not an easy task. One does not move the masses of humanity simply by saying a cross is a symbol of Christianity or a swastika is a symbol of harmony. It takes education of the masses, perhaps even indoctrination of the masses, to have a symbol become recognized as having a particular meaning. Plus what a cross or swastika means to one group of people, may not be what it means to another.

This is why I have set out to create a whole series of new designs based upon hearts as symbols of love and the idea that God is Love.




God Is Love


When people begin to see and believe that God is Love, when they begin to adopt symbols of this expression, then the people of the world will begin to move toward a mind set of peace, love and harmony rather than one of division, conflict and war. So you see, there is reason behind my journey around the world to explore its great wonders and reflect those wonders through a series of beautiful and symbolic designs. My goal is to promote peace and love among all humanity that none be LOST!

Universal Blessing: How to establish world peace

Universal Blessing: God Loves All People


I woke up this morning to the beat of a different drum. A red headed woodpecker was rudely pecking away upon the roof. In response my German Shepherd dog barked in alarm and I arose to a bright, glorious and sunny day. There was not a cloud in the sky, a perfect day for being out and about, a perfect day for doing just about anything.

Last night I was up rather late working upon a new design series entitled "Universal Blessing." Then this morning I continued this line of reasoning to create a "Universal Love" series. This is a set of designs which promotes love among all people of the world beginning with those countries or regions of the world toward which there is the greatest ill will or conflict now focused.

It is the purpose of these designs to promote love and peace among all people. These designs feature a Star Burst Heart inset upon a Harmony Carpet which consist of 64 Indian swastika hearts that have been fractured to present a mosaic, symbolic of broken hearts to represent how war ultimately breaks the heart of people of all nations. This design therefore can be used universally to promote love, peace and goodwill among all humanity. It is a synthesis of ancient and new symbolism and may therefore be embraced by all people of the world and used to promote peace, love and harmony.

I created a set of Universal Love designs featuring twelve countries or regions: China, India, Japan, Korea, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Taiwan, Israel, Arabia, USA and Europe. Over time I may add more nations to this design series as certainly every nation and region may be represented. Perhaps I will add Africa as a 13th design given there is much conflict and war in Africa which has been overlooked by the world press and media. Also an "I Love America" design would certainly be appropriate as this may represent all of North and South America rather than just the United States of America.

No doubt there will be those who criticize this design or who do not understand it. The symbolism I have used is a complex blend. It requires reflection to understand this design. Rather than use just a heart, a cross, a star or other simple symbolism, I have used a complex synthesis of basic symbols that this design may be embraced by all people. The process of making peace and love is not easy and involves people being able to understand each other and set aside their differences focusing upon their similarities. This design may stimulate debate and through the process bring people to reflect not only upon their nationalism, but upon the ideas of love and hate which bring them together or keep them apart.

I am well aware that there already exists a "Peace Symbol" and certainly such symbols a the heart and the cross are symbols of love. Yet these singular, simplistic symbols do not in and of themselves reach out and pull people together. The "Universal Harmony" carpet design that I have created uses ancient symbolism to reach out across the divide of race, religion, ethnic and national origin to bring people together.

This design and its many variations will take some getting use to. I have no delusions that it will be adopted over night by the masses of humanity. The process of bringing peace and love to the world is a long process. It may take hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. I will certainly not live to see the day when universal peace and love are achieved. Yet should I be remembered for anything, I hope it is the fact that I at least made an attempt, made an effort, and began a process to create a world where all people love one another, a world without war.

This is a great dream. A world without war where people of all nations, people of diverse religions, do not resort to violence to resolve disputes or conflict, is certainly a dream. I have no delusions in this regard. In fact, the awareness that war and conflict exist is why I have been motivated to work toward its abolition. I invite all who share my dream of a world without war to embrace the designs I have created and to use them to promote universal love.

You may view the "Universal Blessing" design and other religious symbolism I have created at "Universal Blessing".

The symbolism of love in new and ancient forms

Iraq War Memorial


I've been working on new series of heart designs related to the war in the Middle East entitled, "Iraq War Memorial".

When any people cannot live in harmony and go to war, it represents a failure, not so much of the people of respective nations, but of the leadership of those people. In the Middle East there has been a great failure of the religious leaders and the basic ideology which preaches martyrdom. In the Western nations there has been a great failure to teach respect for all faiths, including Islam, such that acculturation might occur and a synthesis of ideas and beliefs as memes be acquired which would let Christians and Moslems understand and respect each other and be able to negotiate, to set aside differences and concentrate upon the higher qualities of their humanity, that instead of a state of war existing, people are engaged in harmonious exchange.

The Iraq War Memorial series consists of crucifix hearts. There are six star bursts inside each heart to form a crucifix. The number six was chosen simply because this makes a nice crucifix. Then sets of crucifix hearts were created. The way this is done is to make a set of heats in a row or block, then to multiply the number by a process of copy/paste. Thus I created sets of 4x4 = 16 and 8x8 = 64 hearts. In this particular case I wanted the final number of star bursts to represent the total number of US soldiers who have died in the war in Iraq. As this number is over 2,000 and is constantly changing I set each star burst equal to a company of 30+ people. As US soldiers include both men and women, I refer to them as "people" so as to be inclusive of females who are in the military service. Thus the Iraq War Memorial designs have a mosaic of crucifix hearts, each with 64 hearts, that 2,000/64 = 31.25, such that these crucifix star burst hearts each represent that sum of soldiers who have perished, the number not being a constant but increasing the size of the dead companies so represented.

Few people would probably look at this particular design and realize that such though went into its creation. This is one reason people should not conclude from viewing my works of art or design that it has the same meaning to me that it may bring to them. Symbolism is not written in stone, but in sand, and the meaning of any particular design may vary from person to person. Often the meaning of a design becomes associated with a cause, religion, political party and so may come to have an established meaning, even a corrupted meaning. A good example of this is the Swastika.

Originally the swastika, which is an ancient symbol that has enjoyed a long history or reverence, was a symbol of harmony or well-being revered by Hindu in India Both right handed and left handed versions existed. Also the swastika may have originated as an amalgam of the words Su and Asati. Su means 'good' and Asati meant 'to exist,' such that the combination would come to mean 'let good-prevail' which is in quite contrast to how the usage of the swastika by the Nazis perverted this religious symbolism.

It has also been suggested that the swastika may not only have been a symbol, but a design for a very secure type of fort such that an invading army which made a conquest of one wall would not gain access to the entire fortress. The American Indians and other primitive people also embraced the swastika as a symbol. To the American Indians the swastika was regarded as a symbol of sign representing the sun, the winds or the four directions. In the Celtic world which embraced many basic symbols to have spiritual significance the swastika was a cross motif having absolutely nothing to do with racism.

However, Adolf Hitler corrupted the swastika by turning its meaning around, such that the clock-wise version of the swastika has become associated with murder, death, darkness and evil. The Nazi party popularized the clock-wise version of the swastika on flags, banners, emblem and all manner of political, fascist propaganda, to represent the Nazi party, placing the swastika in a white circle surrounded by red. This was not done by accident. Hitler was an artist and he understood symbolism. Hitler chose this design himself and selected the color scheme of a black swastika inside a white circle surrounded by red to represent racial purity and the blood letting struggle necessary to achieve such purity.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler described his design for the Nazis' new flag and emblem: "In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic." (pg. 496-497)

Unfortunately and to the detriment of humanity this resulted in corrupting the meaning of the swastika that now and forever it is associated with the murder of over six-million people, including Jews, Christians, teachers, scholars and virtually anyone who opposed the Nazi party. Today, over half as century since the defeat of Nazi Germany, the swastika continues to be associated with the atrocities perpetrated by Adolf Hitler and the racial hatred promoted in the extreme form of genocide by the Nazi party.

One of my goals in life is to destroy racial hatred, to wipe it from the face of the earth. I want to bring all people together to love one another, to destroy hatred based upon race, religion or national origin. This is not an easy task and I believe must be founded upon reform of symbolism, those basic shapes which come to have meaning and are used so powerfully by religion and political parties around the world to gain authority and control of people, to thus enable whatever form of tyranny or rule said authorities are dictating.

One of the symbols I want to reform is the swastika. I wish to return the swastika to its original meaning as seen by American Indians and primitive cultures, as a symbol of harmony, not a symbol of race, segregation, white power or Nazi genocide. In this regard I wish to note that the meaning of the swastika as good or evil is not a mater of the orientation of the legs of the cross, but of how the swastika is used by people. Even in ancient times both versions of the swastika existed; i.e., both the clock-wise or right handed swastika, and the counter-clock wise or left hand version of the swastika existed. The meaning attributed to the swastika has always been a matter of subjective association. As a symbol the swastika is neither good nor evil. The meaning of the swastika or any other symbol is only in how users of the symbol define that symbol. In this regard certainly the version of the swastika as created and defined by Adolf Hitler is evil. Yet this does not mean it need always remain such. Should those using this symbol reform and adopt universal love as their ideology, certainly this would go a long way in restoring the symbolism of the swastika as a good, rather than evil symbol.

To return the swastika to its original meaning and bring it to have a good connotation rather than a negative connotation will not be an easy task. But the reason I want to do this is to educate and inform people that such symbols have a powerful meaning and that we the people of the world who believe in love can control the meaning of those symbols we cherish and adore. This also means we can obtain power and control of our own fate, rather then letting tyrannical governments control our fate.

It is also my belief that the way the mind works and stores information is based upon a set of basic symbols. These involve circles, squares, triangles and other basic geometrical shapes. The mind learns how to recognize such shapes. Then the mind learns to recognize more complex shapes based upon fundamental shapes. These basic shapes and sets of shapes then become recognized as letters, hieroglyphics, cuneiforms, or other forms of picture writing and may be associated with sounds or tones to give meaning to language and enable writing. Thus an oriental symbol may not have any meaning to one who understands how to read Greek or Arabic letters and vice-versa. But a basic symbol like a circle, square, triangle, sun symbol or stick human figure may be recognized by all people. Hence fundamental figures that are easy to recognize, due to their association with figures and forms in nature, have a universal quality. The swastika has a universal quality and therefore is a very powerful symbol. Its corruption by the Nazi party needs to be corrected in order to help heal humanity.

The symbol I have adopted to correct the perversion of the swastika is an original twisted cross with counter-clock wise running legs (not a mirror image of a twisted cross) set inside a heart. The heart is red, the swastika is black or white and this is set inside a neon green or grass-green, earth colored field. In some designs these colors may be varied such that the swastika may be black inside a red heart or a heart which has a more complex mosaic scheme. But the basic design of a counter-clock wise running broken cross inside a heart is intended to correct the perversion of the swastika. As the creator of this design I forbid its usage by hate groups or any political parties which advocate hatred, segregation or genocide. This new symbol is meant to be used by those who preach and promote love among all people!

Certainly the creation of this design which I shall call "The Love Swastika" will result is debate and controversy. Those who identify with the swastika as a hate symbol or a symbol of white power will undoubtedly profess that "The Love Swastika" is a hate symbol. But this is NOT true. The Love Swastika is a love symbol. Its usage by any groups which promote hatred, segregation, prejudice or genocide is strictly forbidden. I retain all rights to The Love Swastika and will take legal action against any hate groups which attempt to use The Love Swastika, such that I will sue them out of business.

The mere creation of a design and the definition of that design as a symbol of love does not make that design such in the hearts and minds of humanity. To establish a symbol as a symbol of love it must be embraced as such by humanity. Therefore a campaign is needed to establish the meaning or adoption of a symbol as a love symbol. The fact that the Nazis adopted the swastika and through their acts of genocide the symbol became associated with evil is a difficult association to over come. Just putting a swastika inside a heart and saying it is a symbol of well-being or harmony does not make it viewed as such. Nor does revelation of the 3,000 years of history associated with the swastika the majority of which defined the swastika to be a positive rather than a negative symbol. Also confusing the issue is the fact that Nazi certainly look upon the swastika in a positive light.

One might put a swastika inside a Celtic cross and say that the resulting symbol is a symbol of life and divinity. Does that make the swastika seen in such light? In fact the Nazis incorporated the swastika into many designs including the crucifix which was use in metals given to good citizens and soldiers. During the rule of the Third Riche the swastika appeared upon postage stamps and was sculpted into monuments to adorn buildings. In fact after the defeat of the Third Riche a campaign was conducted to destroy all such usage of the swastika, to the extent of blowing up monolith structures featuring the swastika. The Nazis so perverted the meaning of the swastika through the crimes they committed against humanity that no effort to correct that defiling of swastika may be successful.

However, I have a plan for how the swastika may be resurrected. This in no way means that I advocate the resurrection of Nazi beliefs or ideology which sickens me to the heart! I am as offended by ideology professing Aryan supremacy as would be any Jewish person.

I love Jewish people and reject antisemetic ideology. But I do not believe that the swastika is an inherently evil symbol any more than I believe a firearm is inherently evil. It is people who are evil. Symbols and inanimate objects or tools are not in and of themselves evil. It is people who make evil use of symbols, objects or even ideas who are evil. In other words, knowledge is not evil. It is not evil to know how to make a bomb or how to make culture pathogenic bacteria. But it is evil to construct a bomb and in an act of terrorism blow up a building containing men, women and children. Likewise it would be evil to brew up a batch of biologically toxic agents, put this in envelops and mail it at random to people as an act of terrorism. It is such acts which hurt and harm people which are evil. The fact that a person or group of people committing such acts may adopt and use a particular symbol does not mean that symbol is itself evil. What is evil is the people using the symbol to promote hurt, harm and/or hatred.

Unfortunately hate mongers can adopt any symbol they wish. Even Christian symbols have been adopted by hate groups. Quite often hate groups have used Christianity as well as national flags to promote their ideologies. This is a typical mode of operation of groups which preach white supremacy and separation of the races, such as the KKK and Neo-Nazi groups. My awareness of this fact is why I retain copyrights to The Love Swastika and forbid any hate groups from using this symbol or any graphics that I or others may incorporate into this particular, unique and original design.

Given that I am aware of the fact that the swastika is regarded by many people in Western society in a derogatory manner, I am not going to rush out and put Love Swastikas upon merchandise and try to market it. Quite frankly the swastika has receives so much negative publicity and press that its usage in almost any form labels someone as a Nazi. As soon as you put a swastika on anything, it produces a feeling of revulsion. The only way to restore the swastika as a symbol of well-being is to educate people regarding the long history of the swastika and gradually reintroduce the swastika as a symbol of harmony and love, that future generations will not associate the swastika with evil but with good.

This may be an impossible task; it certainly represents a challenge. In my own design work I plan to present the swastika in motifs and background art, blended with hearts, stars and crucifixes, such that together symbols of God and love appear, that the swastika is illuminated and restored to its original glory as a positive focus symbol. Of course some may say that this effort will tarnish other symbols, that the swastika has been so corrupted by the Nazis that it can never be restored to the collective conscience of humanity as a symbol of harmony and well-being. I understand this position but as a graphic artist and one who does not like to see symbolism perverted, I must meet the challenge to restore the swastika to a place of reverence in the human psyche.

One of my first efforts in this regard shall just be to publish my new Love Swastika design used as a motif upon Indian type art and American Indians designs, given these appropriate represent the original intent and expression of the swastika as historically used by these cultures, that others may become aware of its meaning. Then I will over time use the new Love Swastika subtlety in other designs, with the objective to produce beautiful designs, designs which evoke good feelings, and so associate the Love Swastika with love rather than hatred, murder and death. I am aware that some will say that in this effort I am tarnishing the meaning of good and righteous symbols, but that is merely their misinterpretation of my actions. My intent in using swastikas as symbols is to restore their original meaning as harmonious symbols, as a symbol of well-being, and anyone who states that I am doing otherwise is simply telling a lie.

The Taj Mahal Harmony Carpet is a good example of how the Love Swastika is appropriately used as a symbol of God's love, that God is Love and in the graphic shown below this is well depicted. The Taj Mahal was built as a mausoleum at Agra, India, by Shah Jahan for his favorite wife. This most beautiful of buildings is therefore an expression of love, the divine inspiration of God's love, and is certainly a representation of harmony and well-being, if not eternal love. Therefore it is most appropriately framed in a mosaic of broken Love Swastikas. This design was created by setting the Taj Mahal inside a tile carpet of 64 Love Swastika hearts that were then fractured to symbolically represent a departed or lost love and a much broken heart represented by that lost love which inspired the building of the Taj Mahal.




The Taj Mahal Harmony Carpet


As you can see, this is a very beautiful creation and illustrates an appropriate usage of the left handed swastika in a motif or mosaic. It is inappropriate and a perversion for the swastika design to be used by political parties or religious groups in such a manner as to promote hurt, harm, hatred, prejudice, genocide or other forms of man's inhumanity to man. Such designs, as is the case with all symbolism, are best used as an expression of God's love and enlightenment; any alternative usage may correctly be viewed as a perversion.

Tinkerbell: What is God?

It seems that in my cyber sojourn I have discovered a princess who lives in a far off land with her delightful children. She goes by the name of Tinkerbell reflecting a fairy like quality, though her muse is more that of a sweet siren singing, enchanting all whom pass her way. How I wonder it might be to know her as more than a brief warm wind blowing past my brow; how indeed, to know her kiss, her love, even if her heart belongs to another.

Ah, why do I bother pondering thus? Is it because my heart has an empty space and seeks love? Is it because though I have ventured far I have not the blessings this wonderful woman reflects in her every breath? Though I may love I am without a wife and without children of my own creation. It is so clear to see that what I am missing is the treasure that is this woman's very life.

She is most fortunate to be so blessed and to also be aware of her good fortune. One might live a thousand lives and never be so blessed. Yet something seems missing from her life, from her soul. I wonder what it is? Does she know? Is it an awareness of that most profound and filling of loves? She seems in her own way lost and searching. Or maybe I am wrong for all I know is what she relates and much of who we are cannot be put so easily into words. I think that is why she relates to pictures, to photographs of her children playing and delicious meals set out, captured with a click of the camera before the first bite has been taken. Pictures are able to capture what we struggle to relate with words. It is only through the combination of pictures and words that a true reflection of our experience may be made. But as an artist and naturalist I know that even this does not do justice to one's inner soul, for through a deep awareness of nature and self as reflected in art, poetry, music or other forms of creative expression, one is then able to relate what the camera cannot even capture, for our inner self is ethereal.

Who is this woman who calls herself Tinkerbell? Perhaps what she is missing is God -- the awareness that God is love as expressed in all our being, that we shine as a light, that we each are beautiful and that it is God's light that shines through us, through our creative selves and the art we make with our lives. This is why she writes and expresses herself so eloquently. Her art is her muse, is her love, is the expression of God pouring forth. Does she even know this? Does she also sing and dance? And how, I wonder, does she make love?

Please do not be offended that I should ponder thus. When one who loves sees a beautiful woman it is natural to wonder how she loves -- how it would feel to know her love? Certainly Tinkerbell expresses her love in every breath she takes, in every song she sings. Thus it is natural I should tune in on the love pouring forth upon paper writ and pages stacked, sent out unto virtual reality like a message in a bottle thrown out to sea for someone to hopefully find. Well, I found Tinkerbell's messages and they touched my heart. How can I say, "I Love You," from afar to someone I know not? What difference would it make, for love given and not returned is love lost, waisted, leaving more emptiness of heart. An empty heart only longs more for that love not found.

The strange thing is that I was not looking for love when I stumbled upon Tinkerbell. I was just wondering through cyber space as one might walk along a trail or through a forest. Then I found this girl who is fairy like yet certainly not a fairy. She is real and yet so far away and wrapped up in her own life experience that she might as well exist in another life time. Why does this happen to me that I am able to see and come to feel love for a woman so distant, for someone who does not even know I exist? Is this not madness?

It is quite insane, indeed, to let my heart be moved by the muse of a woman from Malaysia living in Australia with her two children. Yet I cannot read and come to know her thoughts, feelings and experiences without wishing that I was by her side, my feet print in the sand beside her's as we walk along the beach. And my mind speeds along to imagine our finding a solitary retreat among high dunes where we lay and make love, a forbidden touch, yet so wonderful in my dreams that I ponder if such fantasy might ever enter this Tinkerbell's mind?

When one finds a thing of beauty, as in opening a clam and discovering a perfect pearl, what does one do, throw it back out to sea and never speak of it, or take it for their own, adding it to a string to wear forever about one's neck next to the heart as a most treasured love? Should I apologize for seeing a beautiful woman who has undressed herself in public and, figuratively speaking, has walked naked, baring her soul to the world? Or should I acknowledge her beauty and the love she inspires through the revelation of her soul and being? Certainly I am not at fault for acknowledging the discovery of a beautiful woman and the love she inspires in my heart. Why for one to see beauty, to see a flower blossoming, to smell the sweet perfume of a tree exploding with inflorescence in spring and not acknowledge the sweet aroma, this would be to lie! I cannot lie, this woman who calls herself by a fairy's name is beautiful and evokes love. Certainly I am not the only one who sees this.

In her own muse Tinkerbell acknowledges others whom she admires. She seems to be doing the same thing I am doing, wondering through life, upon a journey, reflecting her experiences, expressing admiration for others she has come to know along the way. Through the miracle and magic of technology, this virtual reality that is the Internet, it has become possible for mortal souls to become aware of others whom they may never have known even existed. No doubt what I am experiencing, what Tinkerbell is experiencing, the encountering of people from afar whom evoke admiration and love, is becoming a more common experience. To acknowledge that experience is but to confess that we are warm, loving, caring people, that we have hearts and our hearts are open. How else should it be?

In pondering this muse please do misinterpret what I am saying. Do not conclude that I am without love. Certainly do not feel sorry for me. I have know deep and profound love and hope to know still greater love before I die. Through this present muse I am merely saying that there are beautiful people in the world and that this woman who calls herself Tinkerbell is one of them. I'd be honored should she ever become aware of me and have similar feelings of love or admiration. But should she not, still I admire one who reflects the warmth and beauty which radiates from her every literal smile!

Tinkerbell is truly a pearl, a heart of gold shining down under, bringing sun into the lives of everyone she touches. How could I not love such a woman, even though my love is from afar and imagined? What my heart feels is real, and though Tinkerbell may ponder the existence of God, I know God is love and that the love I feel is real. Maybe one day she will realize this and when her two beautiful children ask her, "What is God?," she will reply, "God is Love," as so many years ago my dear mother answered me when I made this inquiry. Then from afar I will have touched her life and she will have found the answer she has been seeking all this while, never dreaming it would come from another who has fallen in love with her from afar.

I am quite fortunate to have found a pearl, a princess, a woman who with every breath blows a kiss to the world. Imagine how the world might be if we each blew kisses to the world with every breath! This is a virtue, one I most admire and adore. I wonder if this woman who calls herself Tinkerbell knows she is blowing kisses to the world? How does she see herself in the mirror every morning? Why does she linger in bed without a lover? I'd die to know her passion. Yet all I can do is catch her kisses and blow one back. So Tinkerbell this is to say, "I Love You!" Keep blowing kisses and when your children ask about God, remember to tell them, "God is love!" They will never forget this bit of wisdom you share. Tell them anything else and it will be doubted and forgotten as so much sand fallen through tiny fingers and built into castles washed away by the incoming waves as children play.

The Great Wall

The Great Wall of China

Nicole was instrumental in helping me complete my trip around the world. Without her aid I am sure I would not have been able to visit many of the places that I wanted to see or would have had to do so on a shoe string budget. But as it turned out Nicole and I were very interested not only in each other, but in travel and so we decided to travel together to see and explore many wondrous places that we each wanted to see and had previously only read about in books or seen on television.

One of our first trips together was to the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China some 42 miles (70 kilometers) northwest of Beijing.

I must confess that I was a bit paranoid of going to China, given it is ruled by communists. But I decided to not let politics get in the way of a great life experience so I made a note to keep my political and religious opinions to myself while traveling in China. The Chinese people are the ones who are going to have to decide what form of government they will live under. With a history spanning thousands of years many of which have been dominated by one doctoral dynasty after another, the Chinese people know where they stand. It will be for them, ultimately, to decide when the time is right to chop off the heads of those who rule them, should not the heads of state learn how to adapt to the will of the people and provide not only security, but freedom and liberty for all.

It should be noted that during my visit to China I was well aware of the fact that the influence of the red communist government was everywhere. So I took to wearing sunglasses with dark polarizing lenses that made all the red look dark green. Hee, hee, this was my little trick on the communist government so as not to be influenced on a subconscious level by their propaganda. However, when it came to doing a "Been There Done That" design for the Great Wall of China, I think that all the paranoia blocked up inside me flowed out and filled the virtual canvas, flooding the sky with crimson that emanated from a central red star. In other words, no matter how much I tried to bury the fact inside my mind that communism is a form of tyranny which exploits the masses, I could not do so. Red filled the sky over the Great Wall of China just as it dominated and controlled the lives of the Chinese people. This design I hope will be embraced by all who share my vision that China will one day become a more free people, that the bright red over the sky of the Great Wall of China will serve as a reminder that communism is a passion which cannot be ignored. If you ignore communism it will rise up and spread like a deadly virus and creep into the minds of children corrupting them as adults. So it is with any ideology which indoctrinates people and purges itself of all who do not follow the leader. And that is the greatest evil of red communism and why even if we are just tourist or traders with China, we should never ignore the fact that China is ruled by a government which seeks that all people embrace its doctrine or parish.

Nicole and I debated this issue to some extent after we left China. She does not enjoy talking about politics or religion very much and seems happiest when we are just making love. That is fine with me but life is not all about pleasure of the flesh. Who rules, who has power and control, who says who will live and who will die, are large factors in human society and culture. As an artist and philosopher these issues concern me for surely I'd be the first to go if my own nation were ruled by dogmatic tyrants or right wing fundamentalists.

In fact, I believe it is the objective of Islamic fundamentalist to destroy America and wipe it off the face of the Earth and that their plan to do this includes allying with communist nations to secure weapons of mass destruction. Should this occur it will make 9/11 look like child's play. That this threat is real is inherent in the fundamentalist belief of many Islamic fundamentalist that, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," such that this dictates to Islamic fundamentalist that they are allies of communists. What this means for the future is that the United States needs to be ever watchful with respect to the wheelings and dealings of Red China, especially as they relate to Islamic nations or factions within those nations who want to destroy America. This is especially true in the case of North Korea and the United States should not take lightly the development and production of nuclear weapons by North Korea. In fact, Pakistan already has nuclear weapons and should Pakistan become ruled by Islamic fundamentalists this would certainly represent a grave danger for the United States as well as Israel.

The fact that I am adamantly opposed to the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and communism is reflected through much of my work and production of patriotic designs. I was producing patriotic designs long before 9/11. After 9/11 it seems everyone has caught the boat and that even the cockroaches are patriotic. In fact, that was the topic of a controversial design I produced some months after 9/11 which featured an American flag superimposed upon the elytra of a cockroach.




Patriotic Cockroach

This design may seem repugnant to some people who view cockroaches in a negative light, but I have always viewed cockroaches as wondrous and remarkable creatures who have evolved the ability to survive quite successfully. By associating themselves with humans, the most intelligent species upon the planet, cockroaches benefit from our intelligence. As long as humans are going to be around, cockroaches will survive and multiply. Very likely cockroaches will even be around long after humanity has disappeared or destroyed himself. This is not an original idea. It has been stated by entomologist aware of the fact that cockroaches existed upon the planet Earth hundreds of thousands of years before humans and have shown amazing ability to adapt and survive through the eons. In modern times, since the advent of organic based insecticides, cockroaches have learned as a species to develop forms that avoid dark, sprayed areas and so tend to survive the onslaught of pest control operators determined to see their extermination. Yet there are so many billions upon billions of cockroaches in a metropolitan area such as New York City, that no amount of spraying or dusting will ever get rid of them all. When cockroaches are exterminated in one apartment or building they continue to survive in another until generations down the road a new infestation occurs. And when cockroaches are killed their bodies just become food for future generations of cockroaches which will eat practically anything.

Thus American flag cockroaches may be symbolic of a nation that is able to survive terrorist attacks no matter how long such attacks continue! So you see, what a work of art may symbolize to one person may be entirely different from what it may symbolize to another. Certainly those who observe art often bring their own experiences to the interpretation of art. This is especially true the more abstract an artistic expression becomes. Conversely, as soon as a work of art becomes well known or standardized as in the design of flags and symbols, then to alter or change the standard and accepted symbology becomes abhorrent to many people. This is basically why flag burning is shunned upon as is flushing the Holy Bible or Koran down the toilet. These are symbols that have been made sacred and to alter or destroy them is considered by the devout criminal. Yet what is more sacred, a human life or a piece of cloth or paper?

When some symbols like the Nazi swastika or the Confederate Battle Flag become associated with hate groups they becomes particularly distasteful to those who believe in tolerance and that people of diverse heritage must learn to live in peace and harmony. I am not particularly fond of red stars or hammers and sickles which are symbols of communism. Nor am I an advocate of white power. But as an artist I will use symbols in my work and designs to evoke emotion, to generate awareness or to earn a profit. People can interpret my art however they wish. Likely as not they will fall short of seeing what I see in a cockroach with an American flag painted upon its elytra. After all, most people really know nothing about the intimate lives of cockroaches and even less about the history of symbolism.

There is indeed a great wall, that which exist between the artist and everyone else. The greater the artist, the greater the wall, the greater the divide, between the artist and the general public who looks upon a work of art and tries to understand it, but is at a loss to know the artist's experience. This can only be rectified when one becomes an artist rather than an analyst.

Nicole

Dedicated to my dearest love, Nicole.

Nicole is an alias name.  She is very shy and prefers that I not mention her real name.  Plus she is a very well known person in her country, a princess.  It would not be appropriate for our love affair to be plastered all over the Internet.  It is bad enough as it is, having to watch out for the paparazzi.

I met Nicole while traveling in India.  We both happened to be visiting the Taj Mahal at the same time.  She was traveling incognito or otherwise we would perhaps not have met.  I was, as usual, taking pictures and she came over to me as there was a problem with her camera and she noticed that I was shooting with an SLR and so she asked me for help.  I happened to have a change bag so was able to get the film out of her camera without exposing it to light, and then was able to check out her camera.  As it turned out the battery had died, so simply replacing it fixed the problem.

It is quite mysterious that I should have met Nicole at the Taj Mahal.  How many lovers have actually met as one of the most majestic buildings in the world?  I know many lovers have probably visited the Taj Mahal, but that two people should meet there and become lovers, is perhaps unusual.  It is even more unusual when one considers that the Taj Mahal is one of those mystical  places which I dreamt of visiting for years, as if fate brought be to the Taj Mahal at the exact time when Nichole would be there.  It is just one of those chance happenings, a billion to one, that only happens in movies or fictional stories.  But this actually happened to me and has to be one of the turning points in my life.

It has been since meeting Nicole that my perception of life has changed greatly, as if through our love I have had an epiphany.  What I have come to realize is that one's experience of love is one of the most beautiful reflections which can be related; that through the creative process love may be expressed as a most beautiful creation like the Taj Mahal, that when one is motivated by pure love to create a work of beauty, then that creation will come to have a life of its on and live far beyond the age of the artist's mortal being.

This is why structures like the Taj Mahal have come to have a life of their own, being works inspired by love, beauty created through love, in this case a most loved wife.  Much of my work is now inspired by Nicole and our deep love.  This is why I must speak of her, even though I do not wish to reveal her identity.  Perhaps one day this will be known to the world but for now I respect her desire for privacy.  It is enough to know that she is the inspiration of my work, that the art, poetry and songs I create are born out of a strong and passionate love.  This is why I believe the work I am now doing is so beautiful and easily embraced by others.  For example you can look at my heart designs and see that they are unique, works which have been perfected and are quite beautiful.  This is especially true of the StarBurst Heart designs like the one I used to create the logo for Cyber Sojourn.

Throughout history there have been works inspired by love which have come to be embraced by society.  The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps the most famous such painting.  It is believed that da Vinci was in love with the model and I for one believe this is the case, that the Mona Lisa is NOT a self portrait of a Renaissance cross dresser as some historians have postulated.

Great works of art and architecture have also been inspired by the love of God.  It may even be said that the Holy Bible is a work of art inspired by God's love.  Certainly all great paintings related to religion have as a motivative factor an expression of loving God.  Indeed, it may even be said that God is love and light, truth and beauty, that art which reflects this perception of God is destined to become regarded as great art, for humanity by nature is aroused by the sight of God and to be in the presence of work inspired by love is to be in God's presence.

The Art of Blogging

Click on pic to visit emporium


Each day begins with a new challenge and no matter what we think or tell ourselves, no matter how well we have planned for the day’s events, there is always the unknown waiting around the corner, such that we cannot know how the day will end. Indeed, we annot even know what thoughts will come into our minds, what pictures we may draw,what music we may create or even what dreams we may have. Change happening within and around us is always bringing the unknown to the forefront of our lives. Storms may loom over the horizon. It may rain or there may be sunshine today. All may be well or there may be an accident requiring attention or a rush to the hospital. One may slip and fall or while browsing the Internet discover a new friend who will come into and change your life. Or someone from the past may come into your life and bring new joy or sadness. What each day will bring certainly is unknown, even to the best of planners. Though we may endeavor to build pyramids or skyscrapers, the dessert sands and blowing winds will bring them to crumble in time or some terrorist may fly and airplane into your Twin Towers, set it aflame and bring it falling to the ground in a cloud of dust and smoke.

The future is, indeed, unknown and the unknown presents a challenge. How we deal with and cope with the unknown determines to a large degree how successful will be our lives. Thus each day brings new opportunity for success or failure. Yet if each failure is viewed as a learning process and build upon, even failure may lead to tomorrow’s success.

This, then, is one of my philosophies of life, that one learns from experience,from experiment, and that through observation, trial and error, repeat of effort, and sheer determination, success always follows. It is only when one gives up that failure is the result. For example, if a design I create today does not make a profit, it does not mean it is not a good design. Likely as not the design simply was not marketed properly, was not put out into the public where enough people could see it or perhaps was not the right color, did not use the right type font, or even would have done better if a different combination of graphics, photography, art and/or slogan were used. Thus what works or does not work with respect to any design becomes a matter of experiment. A given design concept may have infinite variations and the challenge for the designer is to select a variation which will be most popular, should profit be one’s goals and a measure of success.

Of course profit is not always the singular goal. Quite often an artist produces work to promote an idea or a cause, to make people aware, say of breast cancer or heart disease, of the victims of a hurricane or tsunami. Also art may be created simply as a form of self expression, as a thing of beauty or emotional outpouring. Art may even be created without any intention other than to be involved in the process for this what one enjoys doing. In fact, I often find myself creating art, writing poetry, penning a song or muse, even composing a blog, as the creative process is a strong force which guides my life, that often I am compelled to paint, to draw, to write, to see a vision and reflect it in the form of art or poetry. At times it seems life art is life and life is art, which is why I adopted this
as the slogan for my domain, Byteland, at http://www.byteland.org.

Certainly the idea that Art is Life and Life is Art or vice versa that Life is Art and Art is Life, most appropriately expresses my view of the creative process and the fact that as a creative intellect all the thoughts and feelings within which make me the person that I am pour forth through the art I create. Thus profit is not the primary motive behind any art which I may produce; the primary motive is the creation of art itself, of poetry, of music, of dance or of any other form of artistic expression. The art which I produce is a reflection of my life experience. The fact any particular work of art may be marketed to make a profit is merely a necessary consequence of someone having to eat that I not be a starving artist.

With this said I would like to go on record as saying that any art works displayed or posted in this blog are NOT so posted with the primary motive of marketing my work but are posted to share my expression and life experience with others. After all, I am an artist, I am a poet, and it would be a form of exploitation and/or censorship for anyone to suggest that I can not exhibit the products of my mind in any particular media, for doing so would be to create a market place which would somehow dimenish the value or experience of that media for others. This is a preposterous proposition, given that in this day and age all most successful media do some form of advertising and marketing to be able to profit and generate an income that they may survive and be successful themselves. The rational for any media not wanting creative artists to publish their wares freely relates to the fact that those who own and produce media want to retain power and control, want to keep all the profits for themselves, through the sale of advertising, so believe this is best done by prohibiting users from doing any form of marketing.

As a creative artist I run into this obstacle all the time. If a newspaper or magazine does a story about my art work which will help sale advertising and copies of their publication, often it is their “policy” not to mention where people can contact me to purchase the art that I create. The media wants the benefit from my story, but not to enable me to share in the profits. Somehow the perception is that the artist would not then buy advertising or that people would not purchase publications as they would be spending all their money buying art. Yet this assumption is not backed up by facts. It is perhaps more likely that any publication would make a greater profit by a concerted effort to help artist market their wares, as then they would be providing a greater service to the community and more people would benefit from the publication.

This applied not only to traditional media like newspapers and magazines, but to publishers of blogs. A service like BlogSpot.com is providing a great benefit by publishing blogs, as this stimulates the creative process. There should be no prohibitions in this regard to permitting such creative persons from marketing their art, be it graphics, poetry, music or some other form of artistic expression. Artists should be permitted to link to their on-line art galleries, emporiums or stores without any prohibition from blog publishers. Otherwise artists end up being starving artist and cannot surviv to produce creative expressions which benefit blog publishers through other marketing their may do
of their services.

This topic has come to mind given the fact that I am an artist and my life is ART. I cannot reflect my life experience without exhibiting my art. And because I market my art it would be a lie to exhibit my art and say it is not for sale. Of course the fact that I exhibit my art does not mean people buy it. In fact many of my works of art have never found a buyer. This is especially true of abstract designs and morphic art. I believe the reason for this is that I am ahead of the times -- two or three hundred years from now people will buy my abstract and morphic art creations like they do a Vincint van Gogh or Picasso. But because I am a relatively unknown artist living in a world of over six billion people, with an exploding population, the majority of which is economically depressed, those who are rich enough to purchase my art do not even know I exist. Therefore that work for which I will be most famous after my death is unknown and goes without a buyer. This is the irony of all great artists, they are not famous until after they die and therefore they live lives of deprivation, often starving in the process, their work often suffering as a result.

How can the problem of the starving artist be solved? What is the solution? One solution is to make art work available through mass marketing to more people at a lower cost. This process really began with the invention of the mold, such that items like coins could be mass produced, coins being a form of art as well as a form of monetary exchange. When governments realized that they could use art in the form of minted coins made from molds to make a profit, they took control of the process and made it illegal for artist to mint money of the same form that the governments establish as their media of exchange. This tradition continues until this day. It is illegal for artists to print state money, as this would be considered counterfeit. But you can create your own coin or your own money and market it as a work of art. Quite often this is done and is certainly a way artists can extend their markets and profit from the masses.

There are many ways art may be mass marketed. Production of jewelry is certainly a good market, as is any form of art that can be printed and mass produced. The invention of the printing process, through the making of woodcuts and lithography, enabled the artist to make his work available to a larger number of people than could be done through the production of singular items. One of the oldest forms of printing, screen printing, certainly is a way art can be produced and made available to the masses. The Chinese discovered this long before printing presses were invented in western Europe. The benefit of using such printing processes to market art certainly continues today. With the advent of photography and computers, artist may now easily mass produce their creative expressions upon a host of items which may be marketed to the masses, that artists everywhere may more easily profit from their work.

Yet just because a technology exists does not make it easy to market a design. I’ve created over 2,000 designs since joining Cafepress.com and posted these in the Byteland Art Gallery at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart.

Yet the majority of consumers do not frequent on-line shops and stores as their primary method of shopping. People buy most of their wares in traditional market places such as shops, stores and malls. Certainly Wal-mart sales more T-shirts in a day than do I using Cafepress.com. Therefore if I could get my designs items in a big chain of stores like Wal-mart, it would boost my sales tremendously. Should anyone become aware of my work and want to help me in this regard, it would certainly be appreciated!

I would also like for my designs to be featured upon fabric and used to make clothes. I believe this represents a tremendous profit potential for a company. In fact I have calculated that a company could make hundreds of millions of dollars marking design items I have produced which are already available. You figure I’ve produced over 2,000 designs that can be marketed upon any number of products. Through Cafepress.com I am marketing designs upon about 70 products. Thus 70 x 2000 = 140,000 design items. If each item sales for an average of only 10.00, this is a potential of 10 x 140,000 = $1,400,000. However, if each item were made available in traditional shops and stores where people do the majority of their shopping, then it is reasonable predict that any singular item would sale at least 100 to 1,000 items, easily. This would yield a potential profit of $140,000,000 to $1,400,000,000 over a period of time! Thus investment in my existing line of designs would certainly represent a great potential profit for any large company that has the means to mass produce and market my design items. In such a deal I’d be happy with 20% to 30% of the profits. Should anyone wish to help me in these regard, please feel free to contact me as this represents a great income opportunity for the right company.

The fact that what I say is true is born out by the profits that Cafepress.com is making. This company is making over a billion dollars a year off the work of other artists. Artists associated with Cafepress.com are making only a small percentage of profits. Certainly each artist would be better off by having their own production factories or extending their outlets to a greater number of companies to produce and distribute their wares. That is exactly what I wish to do with my most popular design items. If fact, I would welcome the opportunity to establish relationships with companies which would like to market my designs upon products, or who would like me to develop custom designs for potential markets.

As a creative artist I enjoy producing art and designs and invest much of my energy in that direction. I would love to have a staff of sales representatives to market my wares. Then I would not be blogging about this issue. I have made some progress in these regards. In fact I am currently seeking sales representatives to help market sponsorship of City/State designs. See the following sites:

I (Heart) Designs at http://www.byteland.org/iheartdesigns.html

TAL Graphic Services and Design at http://www.talgsd.com

I Love California at http://www.byteland.org/california/index.html

My most recent creations may be of particular interest to bloggers. I have created a line of I (Heart) Blogging designs. You may find these posted at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/919915.

If you are a blogger and like my blogging designs, then please by all means support this effort. I have even made an I Love Cyber Sojourn design to promote this current blog! These are posted below or you may see them at:

Cyber Sojourn Pink at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/919985

Cyber Sojourn Blue at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/919974

I created two forms, one with a pink boarder most preferred by women, and another with a blue boarder, most preferred by men, that there is a version of this design to satisfy everyone.




Click on pic to visit emporium



One problem I am having relates to models. I would like to get photographs of people displaying or wearing my design items. Should you happen to purchase a design item that I have created, I’d love to see a pic, with the understanding that I may display it here or upon other emporium and store sites where I market my design items. It does not matter whether you are a professional model or not; I’d like to see pictures of normal people wearing T-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys or other apparel which features designs that I have created. Although I cannot pay money for such photographs, I would certainly give you credit for the pictures by posting them upon one of my sites and/or linking to your blog or other site, should you so desire and be able to provide me with the URL of your blog or home page. This would be an interesting way to do a link exchange so I hope to hear from anyone who may like to collaborate in this effort.

With this entry I have completed another day’s work. It is 5:00 PM and the bell has rung, so to speak. However, I will continue working late into the night. At 8:00 PM my darling Nicole will come over for dinner. She is a delightful and most charming woman. Our plans are to spend the evening eating dinner, sipping wine and making mad, passionate love. Perhaps I will share more of this amorous adventure in future posts. It is enough that I merely mention Nicole for now, as she is rather shy and may not want me undressing her to the world through this muse. I will, however say that Nicole is a great inspiration. Many of my heart and love designs are inspired by Nicole. She is truly beautiful woman and just thinking about her love makes hearts pour forth from my soul. So should anyone
be wondering where my inspirations comes from, it is from Nicole, my soul mate and the love of my life.

Flash backs

In the beginning there was ... a lot of soul searching. Indeed, I am a soul searcher. I spend a great deal of time thinking. I think best when I have a pen in my hand or am tap, tap, tapping at a keyboard. This is NOT my first attempt at a blog. Indeed, I’ve been keeping journals and writing letters for many years. It is perhaps an addition. Some people are addicted to watching television; I’m addicted to creating my own muse, be it art, poetry, music (I sometimes hum a tune to myself and write songs) or other forms of creative expression. I am what you might call an egotistical bastard of sorts, who is self absorbed in reflection. It is not that I am in love with the man in the mirror so much as that I am in love with life and there is so much to see and do, so much to think about, so much to love, that I can not stop thinking about and experiencing all the beauty and wonder, that through reflection I am able to bring some focus to my life, am able to bring clarity, to create reason and establish a purpose for living and breathing; that this is not just a self pleasuring muse, a masturbation of my mind; it is a process of love making through which I am able to touch the souls of others that we come to love one another no matter where we are, no matter how far apart, regardless of what walls and barriers of religion or ideology keep us separated, such that through this touch our very soul commingle and we come to be one in spirit as is when kneels before the alter and prays to God.

I hope that you are not trying to "understand me" but rather will experience me and let that experience of me enrich your life, enrich your heart, mind and soul, that through this process of experiencing me you come to know and love yourself better. Should you fall in love with me it means that you have fallen in love with yourself, which is a great achievement. I am NOT speaking of pleasuring yourself, thought no gilt or shame is due in that regard; I am speaking of loving the person you are, the person deep inside who feels pain and sorrow, who feels grief and heartbreak, who knows hunger and the salvation that comes from one person reaching out to share a loaf of bread, a drink of water, indeed, a breath of fresh air. It is through the giving of substance, one to another, that we as human beings find ourselves, that part of us which is best and shines brightest. Thus I give unto all that part of my soul which shines brightest to nourish your heart and soul and bring you to feel satisfied, as after a good meal, that regardless of your situation in life, your heart and soul are nourished, as you have found that love which is within, what some have called God’s love, what others have called nirvana, what still others have called enlightenment but which is simply that gift of light which fulfills and satisfies the soul. Thus feast upon my muse and nourish your soul, that despite what of poverty, war, death, famine, disease, illness, hurt or heartbreak may torment your life, that despite all of darkness there shall be this light inside which illuminates your heart, mind and soul. For it is true, "Man does not live by bread alone," it is through the nourishment of the heart and soul, through the sharing of love and that bond between intellects and emotions that our spiritual beings come to shine and through this experience we reflect our most magnificent selves, not for fame, fortune or glory, but as lovers, as brothers and sisters, as husbands and wives, as parents and children, as bride and groom each married to that which we feel and perceive is our idea and perception of God, the light within ourselves, thus shining forth and touching others.

I have, indeed, traveled far and come a long way since my journey through life began. It is perhaps appropriate that I reflect upon some of my previous travels and adventures so that those who have stumbled into my life may understand better how I have come to this point, not that this will necessicerily let you know me better, but it will allow you to share in my experience and through that process know and love yourself better. It is only though knowing and coming to love yourself fully that you can ever love another with all your heart and be able to share your deepest love. Again, I’m not talking about one night stands or even long term sexual relationships; I am talking about pure love between souls, the love one knows between themselves and God, the pure love one knows between a mother and a child when that mother gives all of her heart and being, all of her life to the little one in her arms. Pure love unadulterated by life’s many harsh realities is hard to give, for when there is hurt and heartbreak, one does not feel able to give and does not feel worthy of self to even be alive. It is thus through coming to know and love ourselves that we are able to love each other. Yet to love ourselves we must experience life and grow not as dark shadows which bring death and destruction unto all which we touch, but as candles and beacons which illuminate, brighten and warm each heart. For it is this light, this inner luminescence which we each must discover in ourselves that enables us to love and thus change the world and make it a better place for ourselves and our children.

Where I have been is important for this relates to the love I have found, to the light I have discovered and to the warmth and brightness which I may reflect and share with each and every person touched by me. To be sure I have gotten my hands dirty, I have been soiled by life’s experiences. But I have bathed in the river, so to speak, stood naked under the water fall and washed the filth from my life. This is not to say I view myself as a saint for certainly I am a sinner and it is a daily struggle to make only love and to create only beauty. Yet one can not go
a single day through life with open eyes and not see darkness, not see suffering, not see hurt, heartbreak, and the unloving nature expressed by millions of lost souls engaged in struggle and conflict. Whether it be a raging war or the devastation caused by a natural disaster such as a tsunami, earthquake, hurricane or firestorm, there is each day a storm raging. Within our own hearts storms can rage bringing death, destruction and devastation to our lives and those of our family. These storms are as a falling out of love, one getting lost as they travel through life. It may be the result of being unfaithful to one’s lover or the result of getting lost from self through the usage of alcohol, addictive drugs or some other compulsive behavior. Each day is a struggle, therefore, to make choices which take us from the darkness toward the light, from not loving to loving, both ourselves and each other. Thus to reflect upon my travels through life is to share my own similar experiences, that you also may turn toward the light and come to love, not me, but YOURSELF, or only then can you truly give your heart fully to another, be it your child or your lover.

Perhaps a good place to be begins, if I have not already begun, is to review my work with fireflies. These amazing creatures have fascinated me since I was a child. I have been interested not only in how they glow, but in every intimate aspect of their lives. This curiosity has drawn me to invest in their study, in learning how to rear fireflies, how to collect their eggs, incubate and hatch them, that I am perhaps one of the few people who has ever gazed upon a Petri dish suddenly brought to glow with a myriad of tiny pin points of light, each an embryonic firefly larvae curled inside an eggs upon the verge of hatching. Then I have seen into the souls of these tiny creatures, photographing the transparent creatures under a microscope, discovering for myself their complex nature, marveling at their beauty, capturing on film every aspect thus revealed and sharing this with others that they too may be illuminated by what I have seen and learned. My studies of fireflies are published upon the Internet for all to share and should this be a matter which interests you, then come to the party at http://www.byteland.org/naturalist/firefly_faq.html.

In addition to studying and learning about fireflies and their larvae, I have long been fascinated with nature, it magnificence and beauty, in broad landscapes as well as microscopic terrain which magnified reveal that there are vast realms largely unexplored and unknown, right outside the door of every home, be it in the largest city or the smaller village or tribal hut. This fascination has drawn me to explore the microscopic worlds of The Urban Jungle, travels of the intellect which I have documented and expressed at http://www.byteland.org/naturalist/urban_jungle/index.html.

It is as if entire world wait to be explored upon the underside of every leaf, every rock, every bit of tree bark and in each drop of stagnant water. Why a whole world of wondrous creatures are to be discovered in every puddle of standing water, be it found in a bird bath, garden pond or old tire. Many of these tiny life forms may bring our own demise and indeed, have killed more people than all the wars fought by humanity throughout history. For the Angel of Death often is to be found breeding in pools of stagnant water, and if it goes unchecked, may bring Malaria and death to million upon millions of people, including many children around the world. This realization and the awareness that the civilized world is not doing enough to save those threatened by this specter, is why I established the Angel of Life Foundation at http://www.byteland.org/angeloflife/index.html,




an on-line, grassroots effort to fight back and empower people with that knowledge and information needed to win the war against this most dreadful specter of death. Yet there seems to be an apathy among people. No one wants to help save the world. People expect their governments to give aid. Or people shrug their shoulders and say, "Let someone else help, I have not the time or the money." Thus complacency fills every heart and as a result millions continue to die. This will only change when every person begins to realize that they can make a difference, they can change the world, they can give a little and together help a lot.

I have seen this happen over and over in times of natural disaster. People expect big governments or big charities to help. They deny that they can do anything themselves to make a difference. Or they simply do not want to get involved. They tell themselves the problem is too big so they do nothing. Certainly some people give to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army or other charities, but most people do nothing themselves to make a difference.

I am trying to change that. I am trying to do whatever I can to make a difference, to make the world a better place. One way I am doing this is through a campaign of love symbolized through a series of original I (heart) designs. These are featured in the Byteland Art Gallery at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart.

I ask that everyone please visit the Byteland Art Gallery and make a purchase. Together we can express our love and so enlighten the world.

Now I have a proposition to make. Stop being apathetic. Stop saying you can do nothing. Together let us do somehting to make the world a better place. Begin by purchase of an I (Heart) Design. Then to show others that this really works, take a picture of yourself with one of these design items and send it to me. I will post your pics to show others that what I am trying to do really works. This is a way you can express yourself and your belief in a good cause, so that through this expression others may be influenced to also join in the effort. If many people will do this then together we can begin to change the world through the expression of our love. It is a simple idea, yet this simple idea can change the world. Plus, do not keep this to yourself. What I ask is that each person who reads this pay it forware; i.e., buy at least three items and turn three other people on to these gifts of love. For example, purchase three T-shirts which say I Love You and give these to people you love. Then ask them to do the same to pay it forward. Thus in time we each may make a big difference and spread love around the world.

You may find the I Love You designs in the Byteland Art Gallery at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart

or throught Byteland at www.byteland.org. This is my design project and home page, an effort to enlighten and change the world through the expression of positive focus designs. Yes, occassionaly my rage gets the best of me and I lash out at international terrorists or those who exploit and abuse children, the elderly or the helpless. Thus not all of my designs are hearts, roses or American flags. I have also made a biohazard design series which are really quite hallarious. You may see these in the Byteland Art Gallery at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/672182.

I emphasize the fact that I am a graphic artist and designer and have created litererally thousands of designs and design products. Every day I come up with new ideas, new designs and slogans. Certainly I make a profit. There is nothing wrong with making a profit. If you think there is something wrong with making a profit from your work then you will forever be poor and impoverished. In fact, I’m not a rich man. Even though I have created many designs and done much to try to make the world a better place, people are not easily parted with their money. It takes a leep of faith for people to buy anything. You have to believe. Why should you believe in me? Well, to date I’ve created over 2,000 design items which are available through CafePress.com, which currently has over 11,000,000 items it is peddling. You may explore my creations in the Byteland Art Gallery at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart.

That should make a believer out of you. If seeing all that I have done doesn’t make a believer out of you, then probably nothing will. Should you be impressed with my work all I ask is that you help out by making a purchase. If you don’t see anything you like, let me know. Send me an email and I will make a design especially for you! Think of a design and slogan you would like and I will make it for you. We can thus do something togehter. Hell, if you are writing a book I’ll do you a book cover. If you write songs and are publishing a CD, I’ll make you a CD cover. I will make you a great design and this will help you promote yourself. If you have a blog or web site, I can make you a masthead for blog or home page. Let’s do something together and thus make the world a better place.

Should you not want to jump in bed with me or buy any of my design items, that’s okay. Not everyone can take pleasure in that which is my experience. My purpose here is simply to share some of my experiences and creative reflections with you. As I am a graphic artist and naturalist, that means revealing to you my work in these various regards. Just as a prostitute sales her body, I market my wares. True, you might get more direct pleasure out of taking your business to Las Vegas or the Red Light District in Amsterdam, but if all you are looking for is an expression of love, one you can share with those dear to you, then you may be more satisfied by what I have to offer in the Byteland Art Gallery at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart.

One thing is for sure, you won’t get any STD from my art and designs, hee, hee! :-)
Yes, I have a rather profane sense of humor. This comes, I’m sure, from being an Army brat. You know that when the issue is life or death, to cry, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!," is a trivial issue. In fact to symbolically chop off Osama bin Laden’s head is no big deal when terrorists around the world are killing men, women and children using suicide bombers to do their dirty work. It is right and proper that the truly atrocious and horrible acts and conditions which plague humanity be damned and denounced. Thus on occasion I will do exactly this, be it through graphic expression, poetry or a letter penned to the editor of the New York Times. Should anyone take offense that I call a terrorist a terrorist, a duck a duck, a policy which hurts people and destroys love and life a pile of feces, so be it. Profanity used to fight for the rights of those who have been exploited, such as elderly Americans, is properly spoken and utilized. This does not mean I am angered or embittered, that I am any less a person for being outraged at the injustice which abound in the world; rather, it means that I know people will listen when they hear someone curse and unless you get people to hear you, change will never come.

Thus I spit and spat upon all who sit upon their butts and do not do anything to make the world a better place. Those who contribute to the deprivation, poverty and suffering of humanity I curse outright! Be gone from the temple, is my cry! Be gone from the heart, mind and soul of each loving, caring heart. I cast out the money changers and invite each one among you who shares my outrage that the temple should be defiled to join me in making the world a better place. The temple is our heart, our minds, our souls! We are the temple and together we must join to take back what is ours, what is our world, our life! None can take away what is our unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are not just words on paper writ and in halls spoken. They are ideas to be embraced by humanity, the foundation upon which love and democracy are built.

I have been to the mountain top and seen the promised land. It exists in every heart and soul where love finds a place to live and grow. Thus I invite all who share my vision to come along for the journey. Together we can make a difference, we can change the world. That is why you should take my hand and walk along. Together we can truly change the world and make it a better place, despite all who say it is not possible and who laugh at us. It is not they who we should care about or listen to; it is only us we need take seriously. For the bond created by our love and work will overcome all obsticles and vanquish the non-believers.

Yes, this is a journey I am on, a sojourn, a quest begun long ago, perhaps with my first breath. Yet it may have begun even before my birth, for surely I have been influenced by those who came long before the idea of my conception even was dreamed. This we each have in common, yet that you may not have realized this truth -- we each and every one of us are influenced by the dead, by ghost who reach out from the grave to effect our lives. When we are long parished from this world the same will be true. What we leave behind will continue to effect the living. That is why it is so important that we make love, not war, that we commingle with souls of light to create love, not hate, that we share in the ecstasy of goodness and mercy, not revenge and embitterment. Whatever has been your life, you can change it for the better, you can say, "I Love You!" and so begin to make a difference, begin to change the world.

This is why the simple hearts I have designed are so important. I am upon a crusade to change the world, to bring love forth out of the darkness and enlighten humanity. The hearts I make and the virtues I promote are not just symbols, they are living lights which can bring joy and love unto all whom embrace the magic which they reflect.

To understand the journey I am on, you must realize that everything is connected. My early studies of fireflies are connected with the illuminated heart designs I create. Should you purchase a T-shirt which I designed which says "I Love You!" and sleep only in it, then we have touched, yet I be dead a thousand years. My expressions of love and enlightenment have a quality of immortality. This is true of all creative expressions. This is why it is so important that we each dedicate our lives to making love, to expressing our love and sharing it with other.

I hope that by sharing my thoughts, my feelings, my love with you that I have brought love into your heart and mind, that you may give the gift of love to other, that you may pay it forward. If we each do this then we will bring light to shine from horizon to horizon. You see, this is not only my sojourn; it is your journey also. This is why we have met in this way. It is our fate. You and I are connected. And our journey of love has just begun!

Cyber Sojourn: The Journey Begins

Today I stumbled upon the blog of Marie Javins, a solo traveler in Africa. I had been reviewing self published books on Cafepress.com, which took me to a group of comic book authors at www.comiculture.com. From this site there was a link to Ms. Javin’s blog at http://mariejavins.blogspot.com.

After reading a bit of her tale it occurred to me that here was a most interesting woman, someone whose thoughts and intellect appealed to me. My heart was set to thump, thump, thumping and I mused, perhaps I should introduce myself to Ms. Javins. Then a little voice in my mind said that this would be pointless, given this girl was off in Afrinca following here own heart and the odds that there could ever be a heart connection between us were therefore quite remote.

However, my mind continue to muse over introducing myself to Ms. Javins. Perhaps I could pen her an email:

Dear Marie Javins,
Hi, I just happened to stumble upon your blog while browsing the net. I am an artist/naturalist working on a number of projects and was exploring the net to see what others were up to. I must confess that your blog is the most interesting one I have come across of late, not so much because of your rambling adventure, but because of something about your reflection which immediately drew me into your muse.

When I learned that you were reflecting upon the title for your current work I thought to myself that certainly you would decide this for yourself, as that is what I’d do. The name we give to our adventures is, however, not nearly as important as that which we reflect, for our impression of life and the world is really a way we have to make a difference, to effect the lives and minds of others, to change the world even if it is but in a small way, to make it a better place.

This got me to thinking about not just a name for your book but a cover design, given that it might be nice to do a cover that is not just a photograph taken from your travels, but which represents a pattern that you might discover upon the way. It has been a preoccupation of mine to search for patterns in nature and I often find myself photographing pattern that no one else seems to notice. This seems to be the case whether I find myself atop an extinct volcano or strolling along the shore looking for shells. Quite often I discover the most beautiful forms in nature in minute creatures that others over look entirely, given I have half a dozen microscopes and enjoy peering into the worlds found upon the underside of mushrooms, leaves or in the pattern of a butterfly’s wings.

Now I do not know if this will interest you at all or if you will even get the connection, coming from a perfect stranger from afar, but of late I have been doing a series of heart designs, putting patters taken from nature and enhanced via computer graphics programs inside of hearts to make unique designs. This effort was compelled after lawyers from the New York State Department of Tourism threatened to sue me for making an "I (Heart) New York" designs, claiming it resembled the one they use to boost tourism. Well, I had no idea they actually had a trademark on "I Love New York" and was simply making a series of heart designs for all the states. I saw no reason to leave New York out just because some greedy lawyers thought they could put their trademark upon "I Love New York." But they are a multi-million dollar empire and seemed not to care about my creative concerns. So I simply told Cafepress.com that I could make a dozen better New York heart designs, which is exactly what

I did, this evolving into so many heart designs that they now fill much of the on line gallery at http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart.

Should you happen to visit the Byteland Art Gallery you will see that I am engaged in creating a most beautiful series of star bursts heart designs that evolved from a photographs taken of camellia; i.e. the Chinese Rose, which has its origin in China and Japan and worked its way to my back yard of my country estate via the East Indies Company that imported these flowering trees to England and the Americas in the 1700s and 1800s. So being involved in this creative project the idea occurred to me, what might happen if you searched for some designs and/or patterns in nature that could be incorporated into a heart design? Then this could be used to create a most unique book cover design as well as put on products as I do with all my designs. Plus we might even be able to work out a way that this could help sponsor your travels. I was thinking that then a good title might be African Romance: A Woman’s Solo Adventures in Africa. Thus the cover and title would fit together and the cover design could also be used at the start of each chapter to create a nice, repetitive design which brings the entire manuscript together. This is a technique that has been used in many books that I admire, from Note to Myself to Life on a Little Known Planet.

Of course this is just a idea for you to tumble around inside your mind. But perhaps you will enjoy toying with the idea and may be inspired to search for some patterns in nature, taking a closer look at the bark of trees, lichen growing upon rocks, peddles of flowers, colors of leaves or other marvelous sights that you may stumble upon.
Should you wish to share your muse in these or other regards you are welcome to share email. I can be reached at http://mailto:terrylynch@aol.com.

Wishing you a safe and exciting sojourn across the Dark Continent.

May peace be with you.
TAL

After writing this bit of muse it occurred to me that I had just started my own new blog. So why not just post this proposal as a blog and publish my own sojourn through cyber space, given certainly I spend so much time upon the Internet that it is about all the traveling I am doing these days. It might make for an interesting blog. Who knows, maybe I will make some new friends like Marie Javins in the process.
In this regard I should perhaps take my own advice and use one of my star burst heart designs to illustrate Cyber Sojourn: The Romance and Adventures of a Naturalist through the Wilds of the Internet.

Ah, this quest is off to a good start. Looking down the road I see a distant horizon and wonder what lies beyond? That is how all journeys begin. What we can not tell is what we shall find along the way or how they will end, least we die upon the way.