Guitar shredding! This is a new hobby and adventure in music for me.  Shredding on the guitar is great fun.  Before I got this Jackson Dinky, famous for 80's rock, lead guitar playing and shredding, I had never played any kind of lead on guitar. It was always acoustic or rhythm.  The first time was only a few weeks ago and my fingers couldn't even coordinate between the pick and fretting.  I had to start out slow, but there came a point where I broke through.  That is, I just let loose and forgot about technical precision and started thrashing about.   I am still very rough just a few days later, but getting the hang of it.   Video "and audio" below.

First I needed something to shred to.  I wanted to have my own style of playing, so I needed my own music. For shredding  electric lead, progressive rock music is perfect for me. I created a song using  bass guitar, which I duplicated the track to make rich harmony bass, and played rhythm guitar. I set these tracks to some drum loops that I spliced and arranged into a pattern suitable for this jamming, as I like to call it.  I call the basic tune with no lead guitar, Dragonflies and Night Skies.   Dragonflies and Night Skies audio below.

​There are so many beautiful things that its impossible to say what the top ten things would be. Everyone has a slightly different way they perceive beauty. Our own beliefs shape how we see beauty. 
I spent some time musing about all the beautiful things and decided to list some that are surely some of the most beautiful things I have seen or experienced.  And it is only a very few as there is infinite beauty in the universe.

1. Becoming human. Our journey from the heavens includes becoming mortal. To become a human is to feel pain and love, happiness and joy, sadness and worry and all the emotions. But mostly it is becoming mortal that is the big part and thus the beginning of the list of most beautiful things in the universe.

2. Conception. Conception is the union of two souls to become one and for a human one of the most magical and mysterious of all events and thus most beautiful.

3. Birth of a child. For anyone that has witnessed childbirth, or as a mother experienced it, this is easy to see. It is the transformation into the real world, the first breath of air and the beginning of hunger, and independence.

4. A baby crying. It is the innocence and suffering of a baby that calls for beauty. For one that witnesses a baby crying it brings out the deepest compassion and desire to comfort. To see that the baby had its whole life ahead and all the experiences ahead of it, is a beautiful thing indeed. A baby laughing is beautiful, and a well known beauty, yet the crying is also as it gives one a chance to ponder deep into the power of pain and the glory of life.

5. The Earth. The earth itself is glorious beauty with all the elements to create and sustain life. From the beautiful clouds and weather to the mountains, stream and oceans, the plants and the animals, the earth is alive and most beautiful.

6. A Smile. As Shivangi Thakur said on Quora, "Beauty of smile lies in the purity of heart. Your smile is the mirror or reflection of your heart. It doesn't depend on the external goodness , it somehow connected to your inner charm. If you can make happy a crying kid with your smile then indeed your smile is beautiful. If you can take away all the tension of your beloved ones just because of your smiling face you possess that beauty. Smile is contagious, keep smiling , spread happiness :)"

7. Shadows. Without shadows we could not see anything but light. Nothing would be discernible. Thus light, darkness and shadows , along with reflections, all work in harmony as a great beauty of the universe. The sun, stars and moon are all beautiful, yet even stars require darkness, ‘shadows” to see.

8. A Tree. Not just a tree, but all trees. The benefits of trees are so great , it warrants many entire blogs on just why trees are so awesome. “Trees are the most beautiful creation of nature. blog by Rajshree Mathur Ghosh https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/trees-are-the-most-beautiful-creation-of-nature Just one of the reasons he lists is, " So wonderfully giving is their nature. And they give so generously without any grudge or bias. Everything about the Tree is for others. There is so much generosity in the life of a Tree. Only giving is their True nature."

9. Falling in Love. Perhaps arguable from a psychological standpoint, but falling in love is a transformation into a new plane. It is to tap, involuntary as if some power greater than ourselves, an otherwise unknown world of feeling. It has it’s own power and consciousness, is mysterious and intangible yet real to anyone in love or has fallen in love. With this being said, Love itself, should top any list of most beautiful things as I believe the universe was born, if not from love, then the desire for love.

10. Death. Death is not the end. Death is the way back home. We came to experience humanity, the joys and pains, the mortality of being a human and now we must experience the fruition of this mortality. Death is the doorway to return and our experience as a human has been fulfilled.

​continued below nature slideshow.

Of course there are many other beautiful things and if I wrote this list a week ago, or was to write it a year from now. the list would have some things changes, for the laughter of a child, the singing of a bird, a hug, a flower booming, there are so many experiences and things in the universe that would tie for any spot in the top ten. The stars, the rain, water, light, fire, a wedding, and so many more things are beautiful. It’s all beautiful. It would be easier to list the things that are not beautiful and many of those would be also be beautiful if beholden in the right light. 
​Rybird 2018

Primal earth conditions became suited for creating organic material spontaneously.
In the system of physics and chemistry as it existed, there became stable structures, and unstable ones, but at one point a replicator arose in this system, and grew to dominate. These became cellular organisms that, at first glance, seemed to be attempting to "survive", but have really were just been the most efficient replicator from a series of ancestors.
Then  a tipping point' or critical mass of sorts was reached where the primitive self replicators begin to survive. And through the process somewhere, consciousness sprang up as a more successful method to continue replicating and surviving. And upon becoming more complex organisms emotions and thought became the tools for survival. These complex feelings mixed with millions of years of instinct drive humans to question death. Then we try to answer the fundamental question "Who am I?" by engaging in the world, by growing, learning, through experiencing the world in some way or another. We have a readiness' for death as we project forward attempting to answer this question.
 Derived and condensed from Why does life strive to live?
at https://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/drfu1/why_does_life_strive_to_live/ 
“At the fundamental level everything is energy, mass is just condensed energy, and we know from quantum physics all energy in the universe and in existence is interconnected. Everything influences everything else at the quantum level. This energy is God stuff. It is consciousness. Energy can also never be created or destroyed only transformed from one form into another. So in essence the energy has always been there forever and ever and will always be there forever and ever; it is infinite, it is God.  The universe behaves like ONE gigantic organism. With every part, equally as important as every other part. No Thing in the universe likewise could possibly be more superior fundamentally than any other thing. The whole being is greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately everything in the universe is connected and influences everything else. It is impossible to differentiate one part of the whole from another part at the fundamental level because ultimately it is all made of the same stuff and acts and behaves like ONE. This encompasses All That Is.
So what’s the point you ask? The point and purpose of the universe is so that God could experience Itself and come to know Itself through creating within Itself.”
From The Universe as God at: http://www.gestaltreality.com/articles/the-universe-as-god/
continued below

Thus the illusion of separation is born. Ultimately there is no separation, but the illusion of separation at the superficial level serves a purpose. Without the illusion of separation without reference points you could not create, you could not experience! You would not know up from down, you would not know there, as oppose to here. The relative framework is setup perfectly to give rise to experience. Without it, it would be as if nothing existed. You could not compare yourself to anything and therefore you would not even know, you existed. Variety and diversity are extremely important because they help to differentiate one part of the whole from another. Time and space are also important so we can locate things relative to something else. In order for there to be even such a thing as ‘pleasure’ its polar opposite ‘pain’ must also exist and be experiential. Something can only exist with reference to its polar opposite. Everything in the universe appears in dualities. These are a fundamental need for existence and experience’s of the given nature.
 
What is the meaning of all this? Meaning is something that exists only temporarily in time. You can do something that will be meaningful to you today, but in a million years what does it mean?? Will anyone care, will you care? One thing is certain about the universe and that is change. NOTHING stays the same, and this gives rise to diversity. The universe even at the most basic energetic level is teeming with motion. There is no stasis and ultimately therefore you can never attach meaning to any one thing eternally. To attach meaning to any moment in time eternally you would have to freeze the entire universe and all of existence. You would have to stop life! And then it would be as if nothing existed.
Now there is no meaning yet there is purpose and the purpose of All That Is, is to experience and create. It’s a self discovery process on all levels of existence. You have been given free-will to create and experience life(God) in what ever way you choose. People often get caught up in a search for the meaning of life and try to artificially impose some sort of eternal meaning on something. It always fails. The point is to create and experience and the process of evolution allows you to learn more and more, and to create and experience with more variety and diversity. This is the true wonder of life. Adapted from From The Universe as God at: http://www.gestaltreality.com/articles/the-universe-as-god/
Rybird November 27 2017

Originally The Color of Sex.
Male house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) have carotenoid-based ornamental plumage coloration. In previous research it was shown that for a single population of house finches in a single year, males that paired were on average redder in plumage coloration than males that did not pair, and males with redder plumage tended to nest earlier than males with less red plumage.
One of the most widespread ornamental traits among birds is carotenoid-based red, orange, and yellow plumage coloration. Carotenoid pigments cannot be synthesized de novo by birds or by any vertebrates; they must be ingested. Because carotenoid pigments must be derived from food, expression of carotenoid pigmentation is dependent on access to sufficient amounts of foods that provide the right type of carotenoid pigments. The physiological condition of a bird at the time of molt, independent of parasitic infection, has also been invoked as a factor in the efficiency with which ingested carotenoids might be used to pigment feathers.
Models of sexual selection predict that condition-dependent ornamental traits such as carotenoid-based plumage coloration should be of particular interest to females when they choose a mate.
In both laboratory and field experiments, female house finches have been shown to prefer mates with redder and more intensely pigmented plumage.
One result of female preference for redder males is that the mean redness of paired male house finches is greater than the mean redness of unpaired males, among male house finches that pair, redder males tend to initiate nesting earlier (i.e., their mates lay eggs earlier) than less red males.


Rybird deductive corollary, Good food and hygiene offers better choices of a mate, thus better sex. We already knew that, but they had to prove it.
Previous condensed from: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/1/48.full

Life does not begin, nor does it end. Life just is. It continues just like a forest that loses a tree, the spirit and life of the forest is there. Just like a lawn is a single organism of grass all interconnected, the universe itself is alive and one. The universe is one and many lives, it is a compound life and as such has a compound soul.
When a tree bears a fruit, which is seed that leaves the tree and enters the ground, then it sprouts into a new tree, the life force never ends and never begins. Humans and conception is like the tree and the fruit and human death is like the death of a tree in the forest, the tree has returned to the ground to decay to dirt, to enter a new seed as nutrients and become life again. At no point is the tree actually completely dead. It appears dead to the unknowing, yet is still part of the living universe and still alive.

Awareness, feelings, consciousness and even soul are all subjective and only relevant to the individual parts "beings" of the universe that they pertain to at that moment. That is to say, these virtues or attributes, energies or forces come and go and are from the Universe as a whole.  Life in the long run, the big picture, is not fixed to any particular set of atoms that make up an autonomous  living being.  Life is transformable yet constant within this sphere "universe" of one overall life force.

To carry this further,.... continued below..

Continued from above..... "as in saying another way, the steak someone eats will be transformed from the animal it once was into many other forms, some of it which will enter the body of the one consuming it and thus parts will become part of the person, or animal, consuming it and become as alive as part of that consuming creature.
To say that life begins at conception or birth is a difficult argument because the life is already existing before the events of sexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction is merely transformation of existing life. The process of death is the same, yet appears to be one of interruption, it is not. The Universe does not care about time, it cares about process. The process of life continues.

Rybird November 10, 2017

Ah, the autumn breeze, it reminds me of the fair, the rides, the wonderful food smells, and the livestock, then the museum like exhibits, and never will I forget the games. “Everyone a winner!”, the carnival workers would shout. The carnival always beckoned me, as if it was my destiny.  Short-lived was the fascination of the huge generators on trucks, with the monstrous cables I could barely step over.   I would step over them with a slight apprehension, wondering what power they must possess to make all these carousels go round and round.

Quickly my attention was brought to the flashing lights, the newness of the loud dance type music being played, with “Faster! Faster!” being shouted over large PA speakers.  The excitement tingled my insides as I would double check my tickets I was clenching. Then strapped in, round and round I would go, the world spinning around me, hearing the somewhat calming screams of others enjoying the ride.

Too soon the ride was over, myself a tad dizzy, would trample through the noisy crowd to the next ride. Beginning to hunger for the delicious state fair corn dog, I would recount my tickets to be sure I had enough for the glass house in which I couldn't wait to get lost. Then sitting down to eat my cotton candy, I smiled, knowing there a piece of heaven on earth. Rybird

So I wrote a poem for all girls!. :

What lurks in the shadows of the flowers in the dark corners from the dancing candlelight? Hearts desires peeking from behind soft petals anxious for the silence of lovers, they wait patiently to dance while two romancers get lost in their reflections of their eyes. These tiny desires dance and forget all about light and forget about darkness until they burst like careless whispers in the candle fire. The lovers blink and think and realize they are together freely with heart’s desires and the shadows dance to their romance.
Rybird October 2017
#poetry #flowers #romance

Bonus Poem:
To each other.

The blood of a flower, like no other
the sun warms the heart, as a lover
making it's cheeks pink, with a blush
a rose is a rose are roses to each other
a flower is a rose to a flower to each other
they all come from the earth, their mother....Rybird

 "I have a great big hole in my heart"  someone told me before.   I also have had this big hole and found a solution.
The hole is filled by having a relationship with a power greater than yourself, as in God or higher power, and being of maximum service to God and others. EVERYTHING else is just circumstance. Circumstances do not dictate our spiritual well being,or this hole that needs to be filled, but being of service to others will make circumstances irrelevant, and in most cases better. But regardless, life happens, like a ship at sea, there are storms, loved ones die, or leave, sickness comes, life happens,
But when we are at least on the road to recovery from self, then our journey can have some joy, but more importantly patience, love and tolerance, along with humility. Is this easy?, No, but it is simple. and willingness and honesty are the key ingredients. This is my experience and it has worked for me and many others. Simply by practicing rigorous honesty, "being true to thyself" the path will be made. Rybird

Shaman Nalis is master of the cardinal virtues. He explains they only come by  the way of the spirit and experience.  He says find someone who has what you want and have them share their experience with you. And what you learn from your own experience share with those willing to learn.  When growing along these lines, these virtues just appear with no direct or additional effort on our own. He continues, I cannot tell you what these virtues are, for the words will have no meaning, until virtue has been attained.

The social construct of man.
Femininity is assigned to women and masculinity to man. We are socially constructed to maintain ourselves within these banners. This is irregardless of sexuality. From wiki “While the defining characteristics of femininity are not universally identical, some patterns exist:  gentleness, empathy, sensitivity, caring, sweetness, compassion, tolerance, nurturance, deference, and succorance are traits that have traditionally been cited as feminine.“
 Do not men have the same social right to these traits? How about any boundaries in expression? In fashion a man wearing pink has been social constructed to open a debate any time a man wears pink. Is he confident in his sexuality? Is he gay? It seems now even attractive to many women that a man love nature, the birds and the flowers. But what about when it comes to art? If a man uses pink and purple to paint a flower is he now feminine or gay?
I feel men are just as emotional as women and feel just as much, but have been constructed by society for such a long period time that fear regulates that behavior. I say let men be men and women be women. Does this mean that men have to dress like men and act like men? It means that men should know they are men and are not bound to these limits.
If a man wants to paint butterflies or write poetry, or knit or learn yoga, they should, because they are men, they can do this and need not flinch, nor make excuses. Because it is character that defines us outside of sexual preferences and neither a woman or a man in their purest form has any character flaws. Styles, tastes and color choices have absolutely nothing to do for character but reflect the power and true confidence of a man, or a woman if the case may be as these same principles apply to women.
Rybird

Tux the Butterfly fine digital art by Rybird. For more like this see the Art Flies Collection at Dabble Bird HERE

Tagged: masculinity, femininity, man, woman, sexual, constructs, social constructs, confidence, pride, fear, society, norms, perspective, attitude, art, poetry, feminine, masculine, acceptance, style, character, personality, traits

     Spirituality must be one of the most misunderstood phenomenons as expected since everyone's path to spirituality seems unique to them. However, the end result appears to be the same once a person has reached this higher plane of thinking, It is a spiritual awakening,which I will explain more about later. When I arrived at this higher plane of thinking, I discovered it was nothing I achieved by direct will, but it was rather something that happened, It happened, I found out later, to internal events that took place and I found that continued growth results not from direct effort, but rather from doing the right thing, then as a result of that, problems become non existent. After I did reach this 4th dimension, the spiritual awakening, I found I can related to other peoples who have experienced this and they claim to relate to mine. And I can relate to those that have not had this experience, even though they, not having a spiritual awakening cannot relate to my experience. Thus I feel that when sharing anything about spirituality, I should only share my own personal experience as my experience is my truth and people are also more receptive to it. Removing the “you”, “they”, and “we” out of the story makes sharing comfortable and refrains from judging. Either the person that is inquiring will identify or not, and they can take away some experience that is useful and not have to worry about the rest. It is for this reason that spiritual advice is never offered, only my experience shared when approached. continued below...

     I have learned the way many people think does not apply to me and I should refrain from correcting them as I cannot determine nor decide if a different way works for them. The never give up, you can win, you can do anything you want believe system did not work for me. I followed that path into insanity and nearly death as I did achieve everything I wanted through sheer willpower and determination.....so I thought. I was in a total delusion, never realizing that I had never been in control, I was just manipulating reality to suit me and me to suit reality, a type of rationalization, and thus I never was growing or changing. I felt at times that it was my job to make the world a better place and my life would not be of value if I didn't at least try. Conquering battles, never giving up, always winning was my way. And I never reached enlightenment until I abandoned these ideas.

     Along the way people tried to share their enlightenment. It was hard for them to tell me what it was, yet people tried and I thought I knew what it was and I wanted it. But I didn't want to do anything for it. I found later that there was nothing that I could do for it. I could not change the path I was on and the harder I tried to change it, the more futile and desperate it became. Finally it was too much, yes it was more than I could take and now I was going to die. I seemed to lose all hope and at the time I was sure I had no hope, and I did give up. I did not care if I lived, if I died, or if I was going to Heaven or Hell or just ceasing to exist. This is when it happened, It was my point of hopelessness, my point of surrender, but I would not realize it until later, I knew there was a change, but what the changes would be were revealed to me later. My experience is that more is always revealed later about the moment I am in.  continued below