Francis Watts General Theory/Philosophy

I have to differentiate between the micro and macro; the particle and the field; object and context.

On the large scale, I'm pretty troubled by the state of things; politically economically, and philosophically. In the same manner that materials act differently at different scales, systems and organization cannot be scaled up either. And the systems of aggregation of power and control within our society are collapsing under their own weight. There is a vicious cycle occuring. The more things collapse, the more the systems seek power/control, hastening their collapse. Things seem to be speeding up. Frankly, the sooner the collapse, the better we all are. The sooner we can go back to more community based systems.

I just hope people wake up soon enough to prevent the psychopaths that run the military industrial complex from carrying out their plan to start world war 3 - something I think a lot of powerful people are working towards. Its basically the same script from WW1 with some ingredients from WW2 thrown in for good measure.

On the micro, I think of myself as a bit of an anarchist - although if any real anarchist met me, they would probably think of me as a pussy. I'm against institutions of power. I'm even against art museums - because they seek to dictate meaning. Meaning is personal. Also such institutions create an artificial separation of society between those who exist in the world of art, and those that don't.

But the institution I really have a beef with is violence - violence and fear. These are the tools used to control us as a population. Violence produces fear, fear shuts down or impairs our capacity for critical reasoning. We then fall back on emotional reactions which is easily predicted easily controlled.

I've been reading Einstein lately, and here is an appropriate quote from him: "In two weeks the sheeplike masses of any country can be worked up by the newspapers into such a state of excited fury that men are prepared to put on uniforms and kill and be killed, for the sake of the sordid ends of a few interested parties"

The way to fight this violence and fear is through the creation of Joy. The way to fight those that seek to be the arbiters of meaning is through having the ability to create personal meaning in the every day; the little things, as well as the big.

So on the micro scale - that of the individual, and that individual being me, the strategy is to disconnect and divest from these larger systems, become independent.

"Paint what you want and die happy" wrote Henry Miller. And another from Einstein; "A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?"

At least thats the theory. Implementation is a work in progress...



some practical things; I currently live in Echo Park, but that changes soon. My bicycle is my primary mode of transportation. I enjoy dive bars in the afternoon. quiet mornings with a coffee, and a book or sketchbook. I tend to stay in on weekends. I don't generally enjoy participating in larger herd-like activities. Being a spectator in life is boring.

I want to become a better cook. I want to start playing the guitar and piano again. I want to start a band. I've started to learn how to sow. I bought a machine recently. I even started to learn how to knit this past weekend. I want to make things out of wood. I want to make things out of metal. I want to make small things and big things. I want to make things with motors. I want to make things that defy gravity.