Current mood:	infinite
Current music:	"heroin"-the velvet underground

Tuesday's installment, for the fans


When the Donutposse was formed, many questions needed to be answered, or at least formulated. Many of them have remained unasked or unanswered down through the ages, as the ponderings that occupied our attention and vexed us last year sometimes lose their relevance in yielding to more pressing concerns.

However, many of the questions of the ages remain germane, and the Donutposse has always stood ready to say "I'll take 'Questions of the Ages for $1000,' Alex," in the Jeopardy game that we call existence.

But what role does the Donutposse play in modern society? Do the provide hubris? Highlight chiaroscuro? Reveal Deus ex machina? Possibly perform the appropriate verb on some other little-understood semi-literary term? Probably not. Donutposse is for Everyman, after all.

So how can Joe Lunchbucket expect to gain from joining, supporting, or even simply not opposing, Donutposse? Notice that I say "Donutposse" and not "a group such as the Donutposse."

Well, for starters, Donutposse probably has some very high-minded psycho-social agenda, definitely altruistic, that simply has not yet borne fruit. This reveals the first benefit: Mr. Lunchbucket can drink beer, watch football, and reap the rewards of other people's hard work.

Does the Donutposse plan generations ahead like the Bene Gesserit of the Dune novels by Frank Herbert? Do they subscribe to the idea that man is even a little bit in charge of determining his destiny? Or can they logically argue predestination? Is any argument for or against any set of facts required or even desirable? Are there known enemies to combat, deviant, anti-progress cabals bent on world domination to the ultimate detriment of mankind?

Science, to whom Donutposse lost its virginity, may reveal some answers. The rational pursuit of anything (even the systematic disordering of the senses, a la Rimbaud) can only result in data. Bringing Scientific principles to bear on questions fundamentally Spiritual in nature allows us to conclude that once data has been collected, the data must (and will) be analyzed by some entity at a later or earlier date. Surely time does not confer linearly upon the Entity capable of reducing the universe to a set of fantastic, beautiful, all-encompassing equations. Thus are the laws of Nature codified by the infinite and infinitesimal knowledge of a superior intellect. Formation of matter, from galaxies to strands of DNA would not constitute micromanagement to an Entity that created each initial particle with full knowledge of the trajectories and tendencies inherent in every piece of matter or bundle of energy that would comprise the universe. Similarly, the composer does not invent new musical notes when he wishes to write a new symphony or requiem. After all, we do not act according to the laws of nature. Reality happens, and the laws of science and of men come to reflect the way in which these events come to pass. The laws that men derive by careful examination of our limited purview form only the crudest approximations of the actual transcendental numbers that describe the behavior of the universe.

On Earth, bodies accelerate at a rate of -9.81 m/s/s, and by various experiments measuring the interactions of matter man can understand the gravitational constant. It has been measured, yes, but the measuring describes reality as it is, rather than dictating the rate at which a body falls. In this way all knowledge can be classified as empirical.

Next, a system presently understood on a limited basis can later be fathomed to greater depths by someone else, somewhere else. Therefore the world of experience that we perceive is simply another trial in a vast experiment, which ultimately will subject solely to the statistical analysis of a supremely intelligent being. As intelligence approaches the limit of infinity, the amount of unknown or uncollected data approaches zero. More importantly, the converse of this statement loses none of the original statement's veracity.

Thus by our very existence, man and the Donutposse are hastening the time when all matter and energy become once again united. The assimilation of eternity has commenced, and will culminate in the re-unification of all that started out indistinguishable in the first place. For once an object has been named, completely known in all its parts, tenses, and permutations, from beginning to end, it ceases to be Other and is incorporated into the existence of the Knower. That it was ever Other in the first place or whether the difference was merely one of perception may even be called into question. This final conjecture, however, is not within the scope of this article.

This process of incorporation begs the question: where does the Donutposse fit into all of this: as Knower, Known, or neither, or both? The answer to this is multifarious and complex. Simply by recognizing the previously stated facts, mankind can be said to have advanced one step closer to "god-ness." For, whether incorrectly analyzed or simply misunderstood, all the data collected, processed, recorded and transcribed comprises, at the very least, a way that describes The Way Things Are Not. A possibility that has been explored and abandoned is one more step on the way to arriving at a correct conclusion, since it can be eliminated as a possibility of correctly stating The Way Things Are. With fewer options remaining, the correct conclusion will become more apparent, the future clearer. So it is that the faith of the Donutposse, even if erroneously based, furthers mankind's spiritual and mental evolution. The validity or "factual" consideration of these matters loses significance. Existence is revealed to be entirely subjective.

By simply believing in something, anything, or many things, the Donutposse feels that it is performing a vital, though sometimes thankless, task. Also, it is difficult to believe in anything, some days. On those days Donutposse stays in bed, calling in sick on Life, or at least loafing at Brain-Work if it does deign to show up. But it does continue on in some form of belief or disbelief, stringent or slack, thinking the thoughts, dreaming the dreams, crossing them each and every one off of the list of thoughts and dreams that could occur, or will occur, or must occur, before the completion of mankind's and the Donutposse's work.

So when we say that we don't know anything, we are not simply parroting what Socrates said so many years ago. Instead we are concurring that the knowledge of one's ignorance may come early in the process, but the formless state of ignorance necessarily precedes even that. Knowledge of one's ignorance is predicated on possession of limited understanding in the first place. In a rapidly developing, precisely technological age, this may seem blasphemous. However, we are not yet gods who walk this earth, so no blasphemy has occurred.

What we have done, though, is come to a starting point. Henceforth all ratiocinations will be justified, grounded, and productive. Forgiveness and tolerance of the ignorant, even the downright stupid, is a necessity, since they too are performing the work of Heaven. Thus we see that Everyman and the Donutposse actually perform the work of Creation together, complementing each other, pulling each other up when the other stumbles. Both might trip, or struggle, but the benefits gained by each party attenuate, and attend even the most imperceptible (to some it may even seem nonexistent) progress. It does exist, however, and the symbiosis, the synergy, is what each party both brings to the table and takes away from it.

Thanks, and long live the Donutposse.