Yes, still here in Manali, have been on a bit of a creative jaunt, so to speak, and with working out Rocinante for my eventual departure has also taken time. Just like everything else does in India.
Hell, there are worse places to stay extra time, the climate is crisp at night and warm in the day, and I have been moving so much it is good to stay in one place and allow time to process all that I have seen and done, write some songs, all that good stuff .

On many days, I take Rocinante and go up some dirt road high into the mountains, until I get tired, or the road runs out. So far, I have run out before any of the tough rocky winding tracks do. They keep on going, all the way to who knows where, though they become more difficult and sparsely populated as you go up. The peasants up there, they of the stone houses and apple orchards, smile and wave, not many people get up that far, let alone tatooed westerners on black Enfields. The children laugh and chase me along the road, almost catching me, as that is how slow one actually needs to travel. . Fall off the side and, well. .


In honor of the fourth of July I have gotten a little plilosophical again and written a personal constitution. When I'm in a place and get some insight, sometimes that insight turns into creativity, and if I'm lucky, an essay or a song comes out. This is one of the former, and fortunately I have been mighty productive in such nonsense as of late . I will share, as in life there are many things one must declare independence from at times. .

This pokes a little fun at the constitution, but if one thinks about it, the founding fathers were big fans of Locke, Hume, and the like, so the philosophy of the original document stands up well as a personal philosophy as well. Bear with me, I perhaps have been reading too much krishnamurti and hawking, but some of this stuff is starting to make sense. .

We the brain cells and the constituent parts of Josh, In order to form a more perfect Bloomer, Establish justness, Ensure inner tranquility, Provide for the occasional defensiveness, Promote the spiritual welfare and secure the Blessing. .for ourself and the oneness of all, do Ordain And Establish this constitution for the "One," united. . .
That's just the preamble, I hope you are with me here. . If you are not in a deep thinking mood, just move on to the pictures, this stuff gets deeper, and more psychological. . India has been known to do such things to a person. . Read it as a personal philosophy, the Nation as the self, constituents or people as the elemental stuff of the self, "foreign" bodies as other people, etc. . If anyone has been wondering what I am doing up here besides drinking and smoking bad indian cigarettes, it is writing. Abstract though it may be, I think there might be some good stuff in this. .

Article 1 .The heart mind or soul, or any other nation/body(read here as another person, or perhaps another outside influence)shall not interfere with the expression of free speech, press, and the right of the united Constituents(hereinafter meaning, the parts of the "self. . ")and of the particles that make up this person to freely assemble and or free associate (create). .

Article 2.
There shall be no laws made regarding the establishment of a particular or sanctioned personal religion, though all religions shall be respected for their wisdom, and derided for their foolishness and shortcomings. We shall be both respectful and irreverent.

Article 3.
There will be no laws made abridging the right of the constituent parts to "bear arms," (or even to arm bears) provided they are used only to rise up against an oppressor, foreign or domestic, or to gather food in the dead of winter.

Article 4:
Being that all constituent parts of the Josh, and indeed the Oneness of the world are created equally, said constituents shall all have an equal vote concerning any new legislation. The right of free Domestic debate and dissention shall not be restricted in any way and consensus of such must be reached before action or plans are initiated.

Article 5:
In domestic affairs, there shall be made or taken, time to reflect, advise, and consent before any major legislative decision is implemented.
In foreign affairs, the constituents reserve the right, by consensus, to modify, advance, retreat, or withdraw altogether any support given to help said foreign power (in world, or their own domestic affairs).
Such ends, if necessary will be met by the show of force (article 3), but wherever even remotely possible, withdrawl and/or modification of aid given to another "body" (being)
shall be done in peace, with awareness, and love.

Article 6:
There shall be a convention to revise and review the articles and institutions of this Document every ten years, or every ten minutes, if necessary. No constituent shall be repressed or silenced, no matter how far flung the opinion expressed may be, though in the case of emotional response, it shall be tempered and balanced by the other branches, to be defined shortly.
Article 5 may be enforced at such a time, and indeed, shall be. No reflection may take place with a foreign representative in the Domestic Legislature. Such Representation shall be considered only in the "world" governing body, or UOA (United Oneness of All).
Indeed, such a convention for the revision of these articles shall be complete, and withough dissention before any presentation to any other nation/body, or the world/body.

I hope I haven't lost you yet, the charras sure is good here . Perhaps I should smoke some of it sometime.

Article 7.
This personal Nation shall be soverign, and subjugate to no other foreign influence or control.
Alliances may, and in fact, will be forged, on the basis of friendship, business, love, or faith, or any combination thereof. Such alliances will be honored to the last breath of this Great Nation.
Loyalty to such alliances becomes null and void only in such a case as the Ally has no or little history with the USJ (the united sanity of Josh), and is proven to be, repeatedly, untrustworthy and/or unreliable to an extreme extent so as to threaten the USJ (or perhaps just being generally disagreeable).
2/3 or greater majority fo all constituents, and, further, though said bonds may be broken by force, there must be work toward a peaceful solution by (at the least) This Nation, no matter how long a time elapses, in hopes that a coexistent condition may ensue and be equitably agreed upon with the other nation, in the spirit of the Oneness of All.
Future alliances or treaties may be formed with such nations only after the other body has reached their own point of internal security/sanity, and the rights of their own constituent particles are seen to be not continually abused or abridged.
Treaties may be signed in somewht superficial matters, such as trade or defense, prior to full alliance, but must be made mindfully, with the agreement and consent of both nations, and must also be approached with thought and caution.
( in other words, don't jump into bed with an ex on a whim, no matter how drunk you might be. . think of the implications. . limited trade. . haha. . Ok, fine, I have a strange sense of humor. In any case, if you are not asleep yet, I will continue, mostly because I want to have a copy somewhere else than in my "jagdish" child's schoolbook. . )

Article 8.
This Nation, in the world stage, when proven wrong by itself or another body, must promptly admit it, and make steps to examine and modify the conditions that led This Nation toward the aforementioned conclusion.
Also postulated and accepted is the law that one can only be "wrong" in a "factual" sense, with information or action, that there is no "wrong" in the spiritual sense, in thought, feeling, or event.

Article 9.
This Nation, realizing the Oneness of all things and beings in the world, and indeed the known and unknown universe, shall not allow itself to be self-isolated from the collectivity and consciousness of All That Is. (exception: temporarily reflection, see Article 5).
Though an emotional judgement of a particular event may be formed, causing pain, pleasure, or any of a variety of feelings, these shall be known to be "false" judgements. Though the emotion itself may be valid, it alone cannot make a judgement.
Further, all events and conditions in the All shall be viewed to be "right" or "correct" according to the Rightness principle,* and though they may be good or bad according to Domestic judgement, will be accepted as part of "That Which Is."
*(This is my little truism that everything that ever happens is intrinsically right, for the simple fact that only one thing happens, and the Universe cannot be wrong. Whether you judge it "good" or "bad" is your own, nothing to do with what has or has not happened).
In this way peace and sanity shall be promoted to the various United Constituents.

Who says philosophy can't be fun??
Article 10.
This Nation shall be UNITED in three distinct, yet essential "houses." The three shall be one, and act in accord with the One.
There shall be no separation of any "house" or "branch." These distinct, yet inseparable branches shall be viewed for the purposes of peace of mind as:
Executive (body), Legislative (mind/brain), and Judicial (heart/emotion).
It shall be further ordained and accepted that though these three are distinct in some ways, they are by no means separate in any way, and that no one or two branches shall be given the power to act uni-or bi-laterally. When one house is in an uproar, the others shall balance the power in careful thought and consideration.
The fourth, or Unseen component of This Nation is the spirit, and shall be our representative to the One of All That Is.
The make up of this body is not known, but it's elements are inseparable from all things, both foreign and domestic. That which is both Seen and Unseen is non-specific by nature, and any attempts at explanation of the nature or randomness of said body must only be done bearing in mind that no conclusion can ever be reached in regard to such questions. If conclusion is reached, then that explanation is necessarily false,according to the Enlightenment Principle.**
**(re: Enlightenment is possible, but only in the true knowledge and realization that Enlightenment is impossible. . )

Article 11:
This Nation shall endeavour, at all times, to both hold to and let go of all of these and any other precepts or beliefs in the knowledge that anything physical or spiritual may change for reasons that can not be explained, and so shall accept this "non-condition" as "The Condition."
In light of this postulate, This Nation shall also, in acceptance of the Non-conditional Condition, (for further reading see Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle, Quantum physics)
live by this (non) principle, in hopes of teaching only by existing in accordance with That Which Is.
Words and attempts at visualizing such (non) concepts through words shall be offered and freely given (article 1), yet no conditions shall be set, nor result expected from any other body of the One.
They shall not be expected to understand in the same manner, and be let to interpret such attempts in the way which suits their own form of legislation/constitution.

Article 12:
This Nation reserves the Right to become the Agent of Karma, and to descredit any foreign body, or impose sanctions on such a body, in such an instance as a foreign body is seen to abridge the rights of it's own constituents in such a manner as to cause strife to other parties.
Such sanctions and measures may be covert or overt, but any action (or non-action), or words must be in accordance with the consensus of the Domestic body and. The World Body, the United Oneness of All (UOA).
If there is a shred of doubt, anywhere, foreign or Domestic, there shall be no such Karmic Action.
If Action is taken that may be perceived to be "wrong," or "bad," the Judicial (emotion/heart) Branch is instructed explicitly not to penalize the other branches in a cruel and unusual way.
Instead, careful debate and meditation on such a subject shall be used as a means of reaching acceptance, and inner tranquility. In this way, regret shall be abated, and an eventual state of peace will be allowed to be intrinsic to the Nation once more.. .

This Document approved and accepted in accordance with Universal Order/Entropy, on this fourth day of July, in the year 2006, In Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, etc. ad infinitum, and of course is subject to change. .

There! Now I can cut and paste with relative ease. . Hopefully you were entertained for a bit by this heady stuff on a boring workday. Don't let your boss see. .
And sometime, perhaps over a glass of nice red wine on a cold night in Boston, after a good meal, by candlelight, I will tell of some of the other "work" I have been finally getting done here, such as figuring out the quantum solution for the discrepancy in the Thermodyanamic Time line, which accounts for the lack, until this date of any Grand Unified Theory of quantum physics (GUT). They are looking at it all wrong. . . Dr. Hawking, where are you when I need you? Just like rickshaw drivers and cops, the Smartest Man Alive is never there at the right time. .

HAPPY 4th! I hope everyone had a great time, and wasn't out glorifying war. This ain't your grandfather's war, folks. Glorify your independence solely, and the beauty of the world. That is what matters.