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Saturday Morning Cartoon #1: Conservation of Energy
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nice Black Flag logo in the
nice Black Flag logo in the background. it really ties the room together.
Living room
Thanks. It looks good in our living room over the one nice couch. It wouldn't go with the futon.
Thoroughly thought provoking and well done.
The comic book format is a great way to bring up these heavy life questions/realizations. I found the content fascinating and fun to read (learning while laughing, yes!) I’m looking forward to reading some more – Perhaps some hand drawn ones?
P.S. Listen to Universal Consciousness by Alice Coltrane.
-Erin
Hand Drawn - Coltrane
Thanks Erin! I've been listening to a bit of John Coltrane lately. Perhaps a relative? Hand drawn ones are on the way.
Interesting but redundant?
I love this. I love the style and the content. Thinking deeply, unpacking insights and showing them to the world is wonderful. If I taught a class on reincarnation I'd use this, seriously, it's wonderful.
But, sadly, I just don't think it stacks up.
The idea of 'spirit energy' does indeed solve a lot of issues (what Anonymous' calls Enigmas) but... both 'spirit' and 'energy' either need a clear definition or just need dropping entirely.
With our current understanding of evolution and genetics do we really need a cosmic pool of consciousness from which we are all ladled? Why not just take the story of genetics and accept that our 'consciousness' is just a (wonderful don't get me wrong) product of genetics? We're 'ladled' from a genetic soup. We're a bit like Mom and Dad because we share their genes. We're a bit like our siblings because we share a lot of their genes. We're conscious because they are. We're made of the same stuff and it's packaged in similar ways.
Why do we need to add these metaphysical ideas when the scientific story is enough to explain pretty much all the 'enigmas' you're trying to explain?
As I said, I'm not critical of this comic, it's lovely, really inspiring... I just want to see you do one about evolution now :)
Redundant and uninteresting.
Er... I must have missed that moment when science unravelled the mysteries of consciousness.
Great explanation, though: I am conscious because I share genes with others who are conscious. WOW! Mind officially blown!
What other revelations do you have for me? A tomato is fast because it's the same colour as a ferrari?
Thank you Captain Logic for clearing that one up for me.
Evil-oution (wink)
Oh yes I'll do an evolution one next! Great idea! Thank you for your comments, they're great!
the pacing of comics allows
the pacing of comics allows for the reader to advance at their own pacing allowing for thoughts to gather inbetween panels that then enhance the entire situation. i like the pacing of this comic but there is room for much more dialogue on the subject.
agreed
I agree with you. Get the discussion started, what more is there to say on this subject?
Perfect Medium for Difficult Knowledge
This may be the best art form to discuss and describe questions of existence and the nature of reality! It's thoughtful and informative without being didactic, and it invites the reader to participate in the "discussion" too. Matt, I hope you will consider making this a regular feature. Thank you!
I'm on it
Thanks Kim! I'm working on a few. Some are less directly related to Buddhism, but are very directly related to exploring things we don't treatmindfully (such as breakdowns/slowdowns of songs/ so that we're really reading and understanding and thinking about what we listen to) and all correspond to my art practice (so some are already being made into paintings - usually the song breakdown ones).
I'll post some every couple of weeks (they take longer than the Great Eastern Sun Art vs. Setting Sun Art blog).
I'm very interested in escapism, what we do to distract ourselves from the present, and what pressures we have to maintain certain levels of comfort/development societally, etc. (for instance I don't think there's much effort societally for males to develope into men and stay at a semi-permanent level of juvenility for most of their lives - I'm interested in the hero becoming a warrior so to speak).
ANYWAY, thanks for checking this comic out and responding! Stay tuned!
skandas
I think it is quite effective the way you've compared the dissolution of consciousness with the dissolution of the body. Still, the five skandas (two are featured here, body/form and consciousness) are not really distinct from each other, isn't that right? (Heart Sutra.) I fear that the concept of "consciousness particles" could become too literal in one's mind -- the particle idea is intended as a metaphor, right?
The metaphor that I find useful is drawn from E=mc2: Matter is an embodiment of energy, and energy is an expression of matter.
In the end, though, "Don't Know" is the best that we can all do on this issue -- or, at least the best that I can do.
I like the shirt that says "I survived Coney Island Cyclone." That's perfect! I don't think the concept of reincarnation would be such an issue if we weren't determined, somehow, to survive: to firmly exist and never stop existing.
Anyway, really cool. Makes me want to try to make a cosmic comic, too.
Lauren T
http://mudandlotus.blogspot.com
comic strip thingy.
i enjoyed it thoroughly. it reminds me of when i got a handle on the whole reincarnation formula. i was like- "oh! when you explain it that way, it's so much cooler than being the reincarnation of the king of france or whatever."
"there is no death, only a change of worlds." - W.S. Burroughs
good job, my buddy matt, glad we met in the cosmos.
wuv,
daniel
Great quote!
Thanks Daniel, I love you too!
consciousness pool?
i never heard of a consciousness pool? I thought that the very subtle mind travels from life to life influence by the winds of karma - the actions of that particular sentient being. also I thought that the reason we feel an "instant" connection may be the result of having a karmic or close connection with that being in a previous life. am I wrong?
Belief
What you say about the instant connection doesn't differ much from what's in the comic. The only difference i see is that in the comic your consciousness is made up of energy from bits and pieces of many passed/past lives and not a singular and permanent consciousness that interacts or interacted with another permanent consciousness in this or any previous or future lives (the same way your body molecules don't come back together to form an identical body to the one you have in this life).
As far as I know I made up the consciousness pool as a metaphor for understanding where the spirit energy goes but I bet it is like some conceptions of God in that it is everywhere all the time and not collected in one place like in a pool.
Winds of karma sounds like a new rpg from Square Enix.
Hypothetical
What happens when the human race becomes extinct?
Consciousness
Maybe the human race is extinct.
I dunno, what is consciousness? Is there animal consciousness or plant consciousness? Extraterestrial consciousness? Sounds like you've fueled the next comic!
deep stuff!!
I'm still pondering all the implications. Also really like the wolverine facial elements.
Implications
Have you figured out the implications yet? :)
Enigmas
Great stuff! Thanks. When it's so easy to accept the inheritance of genes, why is it so difficult to accept the inhertitance of consciousness? It would clarify certain enigmas.
good comic Matt
Well thought out and graphically interesting.
Fred F
Great comic
I enjoyed your comic Matt Jones. The black flag space paintings in the background are a perfect backdrop for your comic. The way that you combined text and image cohere into an interesting narrative.
-Brian D
Content
Thanks BD, what do you think of the content of the comic?
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