God Hates??? LAAF

According to picketers, God hates a lot of people.  I won't go into great detail but here is an article at Gizmodo that defines a recent incident.  I also stumbled upon another website that details a picketing schedule and their reasons for such things but will not post a link or name here.  Reading it made me sad, and I'd rather not pass it on for people not ready for it.

Please forgive me for any misconceptions and feel free to correct me on any wrong or misleading information.  My knowledge of God is derived from films, occasional attendances to Jehovah Witness observances of Nisan 14, and college level theology and literature courses.  I grew up as a Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist, which is essentially a sect of Mahayana Buddhism.  Currently I subscribe to the idea of transcendentalists and deists.  So onward to my argument.

If you hate something then say that you hate it.  Recognize your responsibility and accountability to these words.  Please don’t place your words or beliefs in the voice an omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient being that could very well end the Kingdom of Man on a Monday and create a new order by Sunday.  I doubt that God, or any other such being, requires our assistance on hating.

So if we take God out of the hateful equation the question then becomes why do we hate?

I hate mayonnaise.  There I said it.  There are times when I hate myself as well.  Some will say that hate will only degrade your sense of being.  This can be true, especially when only the surface of the hate is focused upon.  Misguided and unattended hate can be dangerous as it festers in one’s nether regions, manifesting destructive tendencies.

But hate that is accepted and reflected upon can be cathartic, and stops being hate all together.

Mayonnaise gives me heartburn and leaves my mouth with a strange tingly flavor.  It also constricts my breathing a bit.  So my hate for the mayonnaise is a physical response that is not one of my desired effects from food.

On the other hand I beat myself up with hate because I’m not living up to the way in which I envision myself.  It becomes like an abusive relationship with myself where I make the wrong choices and then decide to get upset about wrong choices.  Basically the truth behind it is that I care about myself, just not in the right way sometimes.

If I focus on this hate it’ll just get depressing and the present and future will be flooded by a past that doesn’t exist.

So the choice becomes whether to hate my life or strive for the life I want.

In the case of hating others it may get a little more complicated.  It could be because you care, or fear, or don’t understand, or find their actions to be abhorrent.

But how will you ever find the reason if you pretend that it’s someone else with the hate?  You may discover that there wasn’t really any hate there to begin with.

I personally don’t believe hate to be bad.  It’s an misguided emotional response.  The actions we take for any such response, including love, can be destructive.  

I find apathy to be much worse, especially in a world where we have no choice but to live with one another.

Since we live in such a world where human and environmental interactions are inevitable I propose the use of following acronym for dealing with hate or avoiding it all together:

LAAF

Love
Appreciate
Accept
Forgive

Actually there was a P word in there too but I can’t remember it.  So the acronym would have been FLAAP.  Maybe you just gotta find your own P.  Or, better yet, find your acronym for what you want to believe in and live for.

Whatever you decide and act upon, own it.

These people did.

Some Girl

I was fiddling with photoshop for most of last night and some of today to achieve a more realistic look.  The second time I've tried it in about 3 years.  I know there are some issues I'd like to fix such as the proportion but I'm happy with it as it is.  Also, I have to work more from the inside out then just the outside.  I'll improve as I paint more often.  It's called "Some Girl."

Cheshire bleu

Another painting done on brushes. Probably part 1 of the Märchenland collection.  Just for fun.

Animation Test 1.. 2.. 3

Here's an animation I did last night for fun and learning.  Just a test.  Haven't dabbled in a hand drawn style before.

Thoughts That Arise from Reading : The Shadow Effect

This picture here?  Not an accurate description of me.  I'm terrible at basketball and don't smoke.  Also I don't look that good.  But is it me on the inside?  I'm not exactly sure to tell you the truth.

In elementary school I used to smile all the time.  My lips would pull themselves upwards to the opposing corners and present a genuine image of happiness to the world.

Then as I entered high school I met a most formidable foe.  A younger boy at school walked by me and asked "Why are you always smiling?"

A Heart for Everyone

I painted this with the Brushes app.  The inspiration came from visiting the site Takumi's Heart.  It's currently offline, so to speak, but basically it's to help garner funding for an individual who has a heart condition.  I didn't have money at the time (and still don't), but still feel compelled to do what I could.  So I made this painting.  I sent it to them anonymously and left out my signature on purpose.

It may seem like a terrible idea but I have a reason for doing so. It also may seem strange that I am posting it here on my blog but I want everyone to have it as a source of inspiration.

I want the picture to inspire others, just as it did me while I painted and look at it now.  It's a picture for everyone, therefore it belongs to everyone.

Feel free to use this picture, but I do have two conditions.

1:) That you do not use it for commercial or personal profit as that will defeat the purpose of the painting.
2:) You do not take claim to be the sole creator of the piece.  As I said it is a picture that belongs to everyone.  Therefore I believe it to not just be the product of only one person, not even me.  I am merely the conduit that brought about its actualization.

Pro-Crastination

Guess what? Our future self is pretty unreliable, too. He/she doesn't think that the task in hand sounds like much fun, either, and he/she is just as likely to put it off as you are.

Actually, your future self is even more likely to put it off than you are because you've already established a pattern that putting off that important thing is okay.

If you want to actually succeed in life, stop relying on your future self to take care of things. Now. 

[The Simple Dollar via Lifehacker]

I had a brilliant art teacher who used to say that if procrastination were a sport almost everyone would have some kind of medal.

I'd probably have a couple of gold and silver one's by now.  But with my luck these medals would be made of tissue paper wrapped around cardboard.

There was this incredible high I used to get when completing insane projects in a very short amount of time.  In my Senior year of High school I finished a 20 page paper in 12 hours, starting from scratch.  As a result I told myself that if I could finish that gargantuan paper, I could do anything.

DisConnection

C

I open Facebook for what may be the 20th time today.  Yes, I'm quite sure I have a problem.  It's a somewhat uncontrollable twitch of mine to feel connected to all that I am and once was familiar with.

I promise I'm trying to stop.

This Way Up

I have been dealing with vertigo since about April of this year.  Vertigo is definitely no fun, and can greatly inhibit an active lifestyle as it confuses ones balance and direction.  There are times when I close my eyes and ask myself which way is up.  However I've come to appreciate what it's allowed me to do in this time.  I've been able to reflect on my life and realize what I really need and want to do with my life.

For the past couple of years I have been blessed with a job that I love doing, animating.  It has always been my dream to make cartoons, and learning the art while getting paid for has been amazing.  But money isn't everything.  It isn't what I want, though I understand the need for it in today's society.

Good Night, Good Day

This was the first day of my blogging, and it was a fun and new experience.  Expect to see more artistic works in the future.