The Jack of Tars and The King of Eggs: Luke's Cool Hand.

Something from Nothing

           The 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke tells the story of a man sent to prison for drunkenly decapitating parking meters. The main character, played by Paul Newman, is a decorated military veteran who, much to the amazement of the prison Captain, came out of the army the same rank he went in as: buck private.
             The governer, this man in authority and pillar of society, wonders what to make of this cheek to the natural order, this flagrant...


  The natural order, like any information, can be connected to any number of ideas. If you have done well in one particular system it is only natural for your internal dialogue to result in the scaffolding of one's ego: I have earned my place rightfully and truly, I deserve my rewards.  The uncomfortable nature of an alternative reality where men might follow other gods must be kept safely outside the walls of one's own mental Spandau.*

  The prisons we choose to live inside, to use Doris Lessing's great phrase, are designed to keep other ideas and information out whilst the regimented inmates that are our own thoughts are fed and watered and kept just happy enough to stay in line.
   Among the chickens of Luke's jail, The cock of the inmates is a big old rooster called, most suitably, Dragline; as his position within the system serves to keep that same system on a flat, nonthreatening plane:
Dragline: You don't listen much, do you boy?
Luke:     Ain't heard much worth listening to, a lot of guys laying down a lot of rules and regulations.
  The dumbfounded reaction of the other inmates to this bare-faced explanation of their reality expounded bare-faced to their immediate authority captures the ever-present fear of better communication that must be fostered to ensure that mental walls stay solid.

             New Inmate:    "How'd you get that scar?"

           Veteran Inmate:"What scar?"     

       During the day the prisoners must work. Watching over them is the man with no eyes who can see everything. He has the power of life and death yet denies those under him the possibility of human communication. He is known as Boss Godfrey.

      Inmate: "Don't he ever talk?"
    
     (Boss Godfrey shoots down a bird.)

      Luke:   "I think he just did."

     At the same time, there is the usual self-imposed hierarchy that people often feel is necessary to construct in an institution. When a new inmate is tricked into purchasing a better job for a dollar, a job which doesn't exist, complaining to a guard causes him to spend a night in the box; the tiny solitary confinement cell.
      As usual, people taking advantage of an unjust hierarchy must talk themselves into accepting the status quo*:

      Dragline: "They got their rules-ain't got nothing to do with that....he gotta  learn                    the rules."

     Luke:      "Yeah, them poor old bosses need all the help they can get."



    Another day on the job and the inmates are blessed with the visitation of an angel. A young woman washes her car, caressing hose and soaping the body in such a fashion as to pleasantly torture the men. Luke observes that, as she's fully aware of her effect, this angel is the Devil.
     Dragline, obsessed with his fantasy of the girl is annoyed when Luke brings him out of it and back to the grab-ass reality of the prison. He can not allow another's reality to interfere with the carefully constructed walls of his own mental compound and so responds with the basic animal communication that all humans are programmed with:

                          Direct, easy to understand, communication.  
  
         Dragline gets his anger out. One punch and Luke is down. The other inmates are pleased and reassured to see the old order reassert itself. Luke, however, looks up at Dragline- all powerful with a sun-halo and sees his tormentor. He sees the shadow of the shackles. He refuses to stay down and keeps getting up and getting punished until even Dragline realises he shouldn't be punishing him anymore. 
    The Bosses are unnerved by this show of defiance. Boss Godfrey, cradling his cane like a shepherd's crook sees an awful vision of his charges losing their sense of place.

    Game play has always provided freedom from the mundane, and the inmates turn to the poker table for some not-so-cheap thrills. Luke produces a rabbit from a hat and earns the respect of Dragline:


      
   Whereas a man might have a cross around his neck, Luke wears a bottle opener. Not trusting in a man who was tortured to death long ago, Luke's charm is a symbol of practical, personal, salvation.

        "Sometimes I wish people was like dogs, Luke. Comes a day...the bitch don't recognise the pups no more. She don't have no hopes or love to give her pain."   
   Here, Luke's mother expresses the human dilemma. Beyond the other animals, our imagination allows us to see the possibility of something different, of something better. Locked into this system, a certain amount of sadness and sorrow is inevitable. We are, of course, much better off not creating unnecessary sadness and sorrow, but as dogs in human bodies while largely being unaware of it we look for the safe kennel and the regard of our master; and calmly piss on the hopes of others; hardly noticing or caring.
      It's no surprise that dogs*** have no gods, but we do. They are an inevitable, and necessary, part of the conversation:

                         
             
                  "He wasn't much for stickin' around- but he made me laugh."

      Humour, like anything, is most basically communication. A novel idea triggers something inside us, it stimulates our pleasure centres. A new idea born suddenly and without warning is its own reward.
       Funny is both peculiar and ha-ha. It has to be.

       One day, presented with the task of tarring a long stretch of road in baking heat, Luke produces the novel idea of completing the task as quickly as possible. "(The Boss) wants it-let's give it to him!"
    This playful subversion gives the men a sense of triumph in adversity, the idea of personal power over the system. The inmates end the day laughing as the Bosses are forced to truck them early back to the prison.
      Boss Godfrey is not laughing.

      Luke's creativity provides the prisoners with more joy when he offers to eat 50 hard-boiled eggs in an hour. An impossible task it seems, so much so that Dragline can make a killing on bets as even the chef and the floor-walker are drawn into the magic. Everybody is convinced that nobody can eat 50 eggs. Luke does so and thereby provides the inmates with a miracle: the idea of magic.
      This act of creativity, like any act of creativity, is a function of communication, and better communication gives better creativity. But the better communication Luke wishes for most is walled in by the resistance of Boss Godfrey to simple human interaction and the resistance of God to engage with an eager Luke. As Lightning threatens him in a storm, Luke implores:"Kill me, just let me know you're up there!" There is no answer from God, so Luke acknowledges that he is "Just standing in the rain, talking to myself."

    The desire for better communication with God is paralleled by the worse communication that the humans are carrying out. When Luke's mother dies he is denied the chance to attend her funeral and, to make sure he doesn't think of escaping in order to say his last goodbyes, he is granted only a night in the box.
     The boss who puts him in there whitewashes his own compound walls with: "Sorry Luke, Just doing my job." In answer to which Luke points out that abrogation of personal responsibility is no get out of jail free card: "Calling it your job don't make it right." 


     Pushed beyond what he is prepared to take, he runs. And the hounds are sent after him. In an interesting example of the gerrymandering of cause and effect that protects the boundaries of our ideas, the dog handler who is mourning his hound who has died of exhaustion exclaims: "Look what he done to Blue!"
    

　　　When the escaped prisoner is returned, we are allowed to see the most basic blueprint of the prison. The shackles, indeed all punishment, is applied for own's own good. Humour, one of the most useful tools of those who wish to express different ideas, must also wear leg-irons:
      

   
     

    Unjust power stuctures must necessarily inhibit communication to survive, even while they are expressing how important communication is. A feat of misdirection that relies on the audiences inability to understand how things really work.

     When Luke runs again he is free for months and sends the inmates a magazine that shows a photo of himself and two showgirls. Eventually he is returned to jail badly beaten but, even before he has stopped bleeding, the men demand more details of the girls. Their fantasy comes crashing down when Luke tells them it was all a fake.
     Fantasy can sustain a human being even as our lives are being hung drawn and quartered by those who are telling us we are suffering from an excess of innards. The prisoners hate the reality of Luke being battered into submission by the bosses. Instead of sympathy there is dismissal and anger, as a happy illusion is beaten into dust.

     With Luke subservient, Boss Godfrey finally deigns to speak: "Go fetch it Luke." The man has been reduced to a dog.

     It is only with one last human creative surge that Luke makes his final bid for freedom, inspiring Dragline to scale his own mental walls and come along.
    Entering a church alone Luke attempts another dialogue with God:
                "You made me like I am, where am I supposed to fit in?"

   Once again there is no response, and Luke arrives at the most basic idea that comes from  the silence of God: "I guess I gotta find my own way."

              At which point, the tempter arrives in the shape of Dragline, who has negotiated with the bosses who are waiting outside the church. They have promised that Luke won't be hurt. Dragline offers the comfort that lies in denying ourselves and submitting to the will of others, available for the usual price:
                                    "All you gotta do is give up."

         To give up on better communication is, however to deny the way the universe works.

           Ideas inevitably follow information. No information has only one idea.

           A bullet to the head is both excellent communication and terrible communication.

           It is up to us to decide which idea is better.



           Finally. Dragline, once a man kept low by rules and regulations acknowledges the effect that Luke had upon him: "A real world-shaker."
           Where once there was just the drag of the line, a whole lotta nothin', there is now the permanent smiling idea of something better.

           And ideas are bullet proof.           

 

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* Or, if you prefer, one's own mental Spandau Ballet.+

** Certainly, some find it more difficult  than others.

*** I have sometimes been accused of putting dogs down (that is to say, criticising them, rather than euthanising them ) by making this kind of comparison. So, if you are a dog, and you're reading this thinking: "Rubbish! Dog-kind has a rich tapestry of religious cultures that are unknown to humans!" Then please write and let me know.++

+ Which, if true, could possibly be better expressed as: one's own mental mental Spandau Ballet.

++Or possibly you may wish to keep Dog culture a secret so you can continue to do this kind of thing when our backs are turned:

God is not dead; He's just Regenerating.

 

                                      Regeneration scene of the 3rd God.


         Ever since He appeared in his first adventure thousands of years ago on Saturday the 23rd November*, God has been a hugely popular character thanks to his mastery of time and space, his interactions with his mainly human companions and, of course, his battles with the evil of the universe. Spanning the generations as parents pass on their love of Him to their children, His fans continue to praise and laud the show whilst arguing over the finer details of the stories. It's not surprising that a story as long in the telling as that of God's has often had armies of fans disagreeing over what is or isn't canon.
         A lot of the problem's in God's continuity come from the simple fact that His stories had so many writers in the early days. Also, this was a long time before the modern concept of a showrunner. Consequently, certain of His episodes seem to directly contradict another and it is also widely acknowledged that a lot of the earliest episodes were simply wiped, as archivists of the time had little inkling of how much continuing interest there would be in the future.
        However, thanks to the efforts of His many fans, including many of the professionals who have worked on the show, we now have a generally accepted continuity for the God-universe.**
      
       The first complete episode, entitled Ahura Mazda, introduced the basic story concepts that people still love today. God appears as the guardian of justice and wastes no time telling the humans he encounters of the errors of their ways. His seemingly magical ability to appear anywhere in time and space quickly caught the imaginations of people far and wide, but it was  the climax of the first episode that really had audiences eager for more. For God chose a human companion to help him in his adventures.

                                                  Zarathustra. He Spake.
        

          It was with the introduction of Zarathustra*** as the first companion that the show really took off. Now, the viewing public could identify with a character whose general demeanor appealed to many, while that same character would pull off the dramatic feat of explaining the main character while keeping the main character compulsively elusive.
       In the second episode, entitled Asha,  Zarathustra would utter the immortal lines: "No guide is known who can shelter the world from woe, None who knows what moves and works Thy lofty plans." With this one line was established the show's long tradition of dramatic legerdemain. The star of the show is brought into focus whilst, at the same time, it is inferred that He remains too bright, too majestic to allow anyone a long, close examination. The characterisation of the 1st God was also vague enough to open the door for many other writers to bring their own interpretation. And one of those writers, the brilliant creative spark Ibrahim Millat, would stun the audience by not only kicking down the door, but demolish the entire house as he introduced the concept of Regeneration, and a new  God.
 
   
     Millat's genius lay in performing story surgery that, although commonplace today, was breathtaking in its audacity at the time. Very simply, Millat retconned the origins of the main character to include scenes and concepts that had never been mentioned before. Suddenly, people were presented with such overwhelmingly operatic scenes as the creation of the world and, in the hugely popular The Ark in Earth, the destruction of mankind! 
      The  audience went mad for this second regeneration of God. Gone was the rather vague and occasionally dotty grandfather figure of previous series, and in came a much more three-dimensional character who was only too pleased to inform all and sundry, in writing if necessary, of what exactly was what, and what the rules were. He strode the stage because he owned it. He was both the good cop and the bad cop in the same uniform . There can be few more compelling characters in history, and the audience simply couldn't get enough of it.
      The Genesis episodes are the bedrock on which the Classic Era of God was built. It was this story arc that brought in a huge number of new fans, but it is the excellence of individual episodes such as Count The Stars, Eyes Ne'er Closed; Eyes Ne'er Opened, and the legendary Sturm und Drang of the 2nd God classic And He Called that really ensured that people's passions would be stirred by this new series of God as never before.

Classic era 2nd God companion Abraham.

        In Count The Stars, God promises that He will give wonderful gifts to Abraham and his family, and that Abraham's offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the night sky. This might seem laughable to a modern viewer, but for the viewers at the time, who all identified with Abraham, this episode was a sensation with some fan groups immediately declaring it: best episode ever.  
        This kind of attitude toward the, admittedly hackneyed, story-line has coloured it in the eyes of many fans of newer era God. However, although it has slipped down the best-of polls over the years, the continuing popularity of Abraham ensures its core compelling images will endure.
        Ibraham Millat's tenure would also see the introduction of God's most famous adversary in  Eyes ne'er closed; Eyes ne'er opened. Who could forget the great tragedy of the 2nd God's companions Adam and Eve succumbing to the machinations of The Adversary having cunningly adopted the guise of a Squamate?
       Although first appearing in Genesis, the character of The Adversary would prove to be God's finest foil, and an enduring love/hate character. Taking various forms through the history of the show, many critics believe his dramatic high-point occurred with John Milton's celebrated ret-conning of the evil one's origin story, showing a largely unexplored relationship with God that the adversary had in his youth; a revelation that excited fans the world over.
        The entirety of the classic era of the show has been criticised for over-reliance on violence, war-stories and simplistic moral shading. An episode as once revered as And He Called, 
is often ridiculed for the way its dramatic pay-offs are clearly engineered to appeal to the audience of the time, an audience that the writers of the show knew kept them in the life-style that they had grown accustomed to.    
       It is this kind of ouroborosian pact that ensured that, at the end of its run, the classic-era God would feel increasingly stale and repetitive, with episodes like My Holiday and Stew being sad echoes of former glories like Bowels Boiled.+
        And it would also be a reaction to the old cycles of violence that would see a new group of writers take the 3rd generation of God into exciting and experimental territory.

 

The watcher appears to Mary in this scene from the first episode of The Gospel Era

        Gospel era God kicks off with the announcement of its own incredible dramatic conceit in a scene with one of God's Watcher companions announcing to a human female that she is to bear the son of God.
        At the time, a lot of the audience were confused by this new story line. Indeed, some fans would abandon the show at this point. Others would simply remain unconvinced of the validity of this 3rd regeneration.
        As usual, it would be the strength of the writing that would win over new converts, with many viewers stunned by the magnificent first 2-parter of the Gospel era:  The House of Bread/ The House of Meat
      In a deliberate shift in narrative tone, the new God, unlike the old, was extremely vulnerable at first, and it was not at all clear to the audience that He would even survive. Viewers gasped as the maniacally infanticidal, but hugely popular, new villain Herod went about his grisly business.
      This bloody rampage allowed the creative team the necessary breathing-room to spin a series of quiet contemplative episodes concerning the new God. Whereas the classic era indulged in Manichean power plays, the gospel era began to challenge its audience as they followed the new God's struggles with the authorities' natural conservatism. Episodes such as The Universe Next Door, introduced new themes while the spectacular return of The Adversary in All The Kingdoms of the World kept up the more expected story-telling traditions of God. 
        What also drew fans' interest were the new companions known as The Apostles. Not only were people impressed by their number, they were excited by the 3rd God granting these companions super-powers of authority over all devils in 5+2=5000. (Although we are also clearly reminded in the same episode of His own mighty abilities.)
        Of course, Gospel era God reached its incredible and beloved climax with the story arc known as A Crossmaker.
       Starting with scenes of great optimism as He enters Jerusalem, where it looks as though the 3rd God is finally being triumphant in his battles, the writers are simply setting the audience up for the devastating events to follow. Slowly and surely, the world slips from under Him as parochial powers do their worst, and he is betrayed by those who were once most dear to Him in the heart-rending episode 30 Easy Pieces.
       Even some 2000 years later, the events that unfold in A Place of a Skull have a resonance that only the finest story-telling can manufacture. It is not difficult, even at this remove, to imagine the effect on fans of seeing the 3rd God mocked, spat upon and finally horribly tortured to death. As a character who had promised something more than the oft dull cul-de-sacs of the 2nd God, to then see him destroyed without that same 2nd God materialising to save him would, could, only draw great and sustained passion from the audience.
        The following episode would be much more traditionally exciting and action-oriented, although certain critics see it as being a sop to certain groups of fans. The Harrowing of Hell  remains controversial to this day.

     The penultimate episode of the Gospel-era would see the writers bring out the twist that people remember and celebrate even today: the 3rd God came back from the dead. The plot of Carry thy Myrrh Home has often been criticised as muddled and a convenient deus ex sepulcrum.   It was this episode, however, along with the following The Key of the Bottomless Pit that made a great many fans proclaim the 3rd God and the entire Gospel-era to be the best ever. 

       

        After the Gospel era, the next high point in a time when the show seemed, far from resting on them but actively cultivating bigger and better laurels, came from the creative partnership of  The Council of Nicaea producing one of the all-time favourite episodes: The 2 Gods which was the first adventure to show 2 regenerations of God together. Later writers would build on this work to produce the The 3 Gods, which was the dramatically logical culmination of the earlier adventure. 

Mecca at the time of Muhammad. (Muhammad not pictured.)

     
       
        The next great sustained period of God would come about when the new creative partnership of Praise and Desire took over. Immediately, they ret-conned the 3rd God and proceeded to take the show in a new  direction that would eventually prove immensely popular. As well as the 4th God, the new regeneration's new companion Muhammad also gained legions of fans, and the writers used the superb dramatic conceit of this being God's final regeneration to great effect.
        Many new fans were drawn in by Muhammad's many scenes where he would explain his own conversations with God in newer quieter episodes like: Shahada as well as the crowd-pleasing and reassuring Zakat. Also, as there was a general insistence to respect the work of Ibrahim Mittal and a debt owing to some of Zarathustra's stories, fans of other Gods were  often also charmed by these episodes.
        It was also during this period that more hard-core fans would be inspired by the episode Hajj to set up the first regular fan convention where people can happily mingle in costume with kindred spirits who also share a love of God.
       However, older fans, and many hard-core devotees of the 2nd God, would find much more of interest in the 4th God's adventures when the Mother of All Settlements story-arc began to catch fire as it gradually adopted more aggressive themes. Here, Muhammad's trials, battles and eventual success would provide compelling viewing, especially in episodes like Conquest of the House of God.
        With quality like this, it was no wonder that so many fans happily submitted to the Recitation-era of the 4th God.
       

      Although starting brightly with the 4 part Rashidun, the Caliphate-era adventures that featured the 4th regeneration of God and the Caliph companions would ultimately prove disappointing. The seeds of the potential fascinating story-arcs which may be glimpsed in Rashidun went largely unfulfilled as successive teams of writers simply started repeating dramatic themes from both earlier and later God stories, often with a paticular emphasis on the 11th God.

5th regeneration: The War God.

      In order to get back on track and excite the audience again, writers came up with the 5th regeneration, who is often referred to as The War God.
      His first appearance in Dieu Et Mon Droit established the general tone of what would become known as The Martian arc, the lengthiest story arc of any of the Gods. It was in the climactic scenes of this episode that we can see how the 5th God's new companion Henry V offers the poisoned grail directly to the audience with his Elysian promise of "we few, we happy few, we band of brothers".       
       It would be this poisoned grail that would turn wine to blood and bread to burned flesh. It would be one of the most popular runs of God.
       The War God would be insanely popular for the next few hundred years that would include some of God's most violent stories, including the massively experimental 11,349 part The New World.

       When the 5th God finally regenerated into The 6th God (also known as The British God), viewers were treated to the full debut of Science as a regular companion to God. Having appeared in bit parts since the very start of the show, it is surprising now to consider just how angry many fans felt at Science being given a major part. Fortunately, thanks to story-lines concocted by the likes of Isaac Newton, who cleverly played out challenging new themes with old-school images from classic episodes such as Eyes Ne'er Closed, Eyes Ne'er Opened, Science's role in the show only went from strength to strength.

Joseph Smith- young writing talent.

       The characterisation of the 6th God was never as strong as it might have been, and in the 19th Century fandom was split as the very young Joseph Smith assumed writing duties on the series. Bringing fresh new ideas and what certain commentators considered to be a bold and hugely entertaining new approach, Smith's 7th God episodes would prove tremendously popular with some, while others, annoyed by Smith actually writing himself in as a companion, would sniffily dismiss these episodes as fan fiction. Whatever you think, it's hard to deny the genius of an episode like Returned To an Angel .

Fred und Karl: Young Turks.

       Although the thirst for new episodes of God showed no strong signs of diminishing, experimental and highly controversial episodes written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche would lay the groundwork for new approaches to God as the 20th Century rolled around.
       This pair of writers had previously only shown contempt for the show, so it was a big surprise when they both wrote a couple of episodes. Unsurprisingly, Marx's Alien Nation, and Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra would usher in new directions for God, with Nietzche's episode famously ret-conning the old Zarathustra adventures as both stories laid down themes that would have a profound influence on the writers and producers of God for the next hundred years.
       As a reaction to these themes, the writer Peter Keys would ensure that the regeneration of the 8th God would result in a more traditional main character for the show. The 8th God's relationship with his new companions The Leiter Brothers and certain fascinating episodes like The City in The City ensured a solid foundation for the adventures of the 8th God that would reach their apex with what was to come.
     
        The long Martian Arc would eventually culminate in the famous and shocking 249 part story of The 5 War Gods. Astonishingly, but grippingly, the 9th regeneration: The God that Failed would align itself with the 6th God as well as an antimatter version of the 6th God to do battle with the 8th God that had forged an alliance with the 10th regeneration: The God Emperor.
        Fans of the classic era flocked back to the show, but this story burnt so brightly that only a new direction, using new dramatic fuel, could possibly keep the audience's interest.

Plenty of interest: the 11th God, Mammon.

          The simple fact that the 11th regeneration of the long-running and beloved character is Mammon causes hackles to rise far and wide throughout the fan community. Clearly, a lot of the controversy results from the fact that a character that looked a lot like, and even shared the name Mammon was introduced in one of the 3rd God's adventures: The 2 Masters.
          But it is exactly this controversial energy that writers have used to such amazing effect, in order to pull off one of the greatest narrative feats in history. In short, large parts of the audience and even some of the writers seem to be unaware that Mammon, is, in fact the 11th God!
          It was thanks to the elements of The 5 War Gods, the confusion about whether The War God himself should be counted as the 5th regeneration, and whether The Antimatter War God was, in himself a new regeneration, that a potential dramatic smoke-screen blew up around continuity that later writers would seize upon.
          Margaret Thatcher, writing at a time when female presences were very rare in the production of the show, produced a lot of popular episodes including the famed The Price of Everything and The Value of Nothing, but it is probably the less well-known Managed Decline, that exemplifies a lot of her basic philosophy about the character. Some argue that a large part of Thatcher's skill with the 11th God was due to her own mis-reading of the character, so that her own ideas were never in synch with the reality of the story that played out, resulting in stories that made little sense and often polarised fans even while they made for compelling viewing.
        
        Excellent writers such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins also provided popular and challenging episodes for the show, but both Hitchens' Toxic Medicine and Dawkins' The Naked Leprechaun put the companion Science so front and centre, that the true nature of the relationship between Science and the 11th God lacks clarity and can leave viewers with the impression that the 11th God isn't even part of the show, just part of the scenery. 
     
        Never topping any polls, but those fans who love it maintain that it has changed their entire relationship with the show, is the recent story arc Morningstar. Here, writers such as Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey and Charlie Daniels built on the earlier work of Marx and Nietzsche and ret-conned the entire history of The Adversary. The most popular episodes, Crowley's Count The Stars (+1) and LaVey's The Best Friend of God, while not widely loved, have their own devoted fans. Some fan groups even go as far as to insist that The Adversary has been the star of the show from the beginning.
       
        With increasing amounts of ret-conning, and the flurry of new themes, it is easy to sympathise with those who complain that the show is becoming increasingly difficult to watch. Indeed, new viewers can be bewildered by the sheer volume of back-story, although, as it ever was, audience members usually retain a great deal of nostalgic affection for the first God they enjoyed.

        But, as God himself said in The City in The City: "That is enough of the past. What of the future?"

The Universe (possibly.) - The 12th God?

         Increasingly derided as a story for children, if the show is to continue to be popular it must do what it has always done; innovate and evolve while retaining the beating heart that fans the world-over love. There has been talk of ideas like a female God as well as discussion as to whether the show is becoming stale enough to warrant the end of its run. 
        
         Here's what the British-Indian physicist and cultural critic (and God fan since she was a little girl)  Wash Sukh Jana has to say on the subject of The 12th God:

                 As an 8 year old watching the adventures of God (from behind the back of the Sofa, of course), I loved all the classic themes of Love and sacrifice; of fighting for your land and your loved ones, and standing up for what you truly believed in. I cowered as the monsters threatened our heroes (The Adversary's wings! The Leviathan's wake!), but it was when the stories centered upon the young (female!) companion called Science that the show really began to speak to me. And it is now, as an adult, that I can see that across the totality of all the adventures of God there is one huge story arc. I would expect the 12th God to reflect this, and, as the story of God would be nothing without revelation, I would expect something big from the adventures of this regeneration.

    　　I'm a fan, so here's my theory: Each regeneration of God has allowed us a glimpse at different facets of what, obviously, is the same character. We know that He is the Lord Of Time and Space who helps and loves humans, yet is often mysteriously unable to help in certain times and places. We know that He drifts from Father to Mother to Son to Ghost to Adversary and seldom provides any clear statement about what all of this might ultimately mean. He embraces science and he embraces war. We complain about Him as much as we love Him.
       In short then, we can conclude that God is the universe.
       Now, as we all are part of the universe, this necessarily means that we are all aspects of God. Like the character of Science, our increasing understanding of God is our increasing understanding of the universe. Like Science, and her character arc with God, our science is basically an increasingly fruitful conversation with the universe, with our interlocutor being, at times, irascible, mean, vicious, unbearable, nightmarish, horrific, comforting, extraordinary, miraculous and occasionally incredibly taciturn. Now, does that sound like anyone we know?
       With God as the universe there will certainly never be any shortage of future episodes. After all, the most basic way the universe works is what allows so many ideas about God; what allows Him to regenerate and pushes for the inevitable change that provides us with new stories. It is the way things work.
       For that basic gift, we can thank God. Whichever one may be your favourite.
          

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*  According to legend the original broadcast was delayed by the untimely slaying of a beloved goat.

** Often referred to by fans as: The Universe.

*** Or Zoroaster, as some fans prefer.

+ Contains the now-classic line from The Adversary: "Bowels boiled hot, bowels boiled cold,  bowels boiled in the pot, nine years old!"

Me, Hell and The Universe: The 3 basic kinds of communication.

Why was I even alive at all?

      
        Most of the thinking that has been done about communication has been in the field of Information Technology, with the general approach being concerned with Claude Shannon's idea that: " The fundamental problem of communication is that of reproducing at one point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point." This is, of course, a very reasonable approach as long as you are dealing with machines.
But another fundamental problem, and one that I would argue is infinitely more important at this time, is that human beings are, very clearly, not machines.
        So how does communication work in people?
       
        Communication always most basically works as: Information --------> Idea. (With Idea here being defined as: any information that follows from the first information.
        With machines, the information that follows will be the same as the information at first, as per Shannon's explanation. Or else you can programmme a system to allow certain incoming information to connect to a web of previous information.
       With humans however, the information that follows the first information can be transformed into something that was never originally programmed. In short, machines don't develop new ideas, but humans do.
      Moreover, the popular communication model of sender and receiver is actually contained within one single person, so that it is perfectly normal to communicate with oneself.

      In short; we can communicate with ourselves, with others, and, because communication most basically only requires information to idea, we are constantly communicating with the universe.

      1. Communication with oneself: Et In Arcardia Ego.
      
        Taking a look at the illustration above, we see a young boy* dreaming of a dying horse in the bed opposite to his own. His previous experiences: his dying grandmother, his best friend who is a horse, and his current perplexed view of his own life and situation; all of this information knits together to produce this dream.
        Anyone who has had a dream will surely agree that, within that situation of experiencing a dream, we are basically telling ourselves a story. And, we can experience it in such a way as to not know what is going to happen next. Clearly then, when dreaming we are both sender and receiver.
        Not only that, but this trick of being both sender and receiver is apparent in our waking state. We are able to ask ourselves questions as well as being able to provide descriptions and explanations to answer those questions. As we are also able to check our own ideas, we are, plainly, communicating with ourselves. Not only is there information to idea but we are using the 4 most basic skills of communication which are describing + explaining + asking + checking.
      Another natural consequence of our ability to both send and receive within ourselves is that we will have ideas popping into our heads unbidden. Sometimes as random thoughts that describe and explain, sometimes as questions. These thoughts and ideas manifest like sprites and freely walk through the walls of our mind from without.
      Human beings spend their entire existence with ghosts in their head. Our mind a haunted mansion.
      And people, quite naturally, are afraid of ghosts.
     Unfortunately, we are unable to call Bill Murray and friends, so the traditional way we deal with these ghosts is by attempting to blot out their droning and wailing, the clanking of the chains. Drugs and alcohol are the traditional remedies for the ghosts in our head. Spirits for spirits, Speed for our demons.
       But, much as in Sixth Sense, the most practical advice is to engage with our ghosts, because after all, communication is the only thing we ever do.
      
       Overall, we might compare the human experience with that of a dog who awakes one day to find a human brain within his head. After all, it is not clearly explained to us that we are to spend our entire lives with a head full of ghosts.**
      The dog, formerly full only of joy and excitement when his mistress feeds him, now finds new and disturbing ideas manifesting themselves as his new brain begins to collate new information: that's quite a cheap dog-food, maybe she doesn't love me after all!
      Once fully satisfied with food and drink, sex and ball-sport, the canine can now look at the sun and where once he saw a hot blob he now can see a god. This idea must, in turn, itself become information that feeds other ideas: What is god? What does he want me to do? Wait a minute, here's a dog in a daft hat, who claims to know what god wants. I'll listen to him, I mean, just look at that hat. Ah! this is all getting a bit much, I need wine not water, Christ, I can only relax with the ball...
        There has always been this tension within the human animal arising from our haunted mind, but we would do better to understand that the ghosts we share our living space with are aspects of ourselves.
        It's not a good idea to be scared of yourself. 

        On a modern and more trivial note, the irritation that is commonly felt by having to listen to someone having a conversation on a mobile phone with an unseen, and more importantly, unheard interlocutor can be explained as our brain's most natural and fundamental desire- to step from information to idea -being constantly thwarted.
       Whereas, our brain receives a great deal of reward from the information and ideas of other people. Although, it is clear, it doesn't always go well.
      

 

Our education. Largely decided by others. No questions asked.

               2. Communication with others:  God grant you find one face there, you loved when all was young.

        In his play Huis Clos/ Dead End, the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre had one of his characters pronounce: Hell is other people ( Lenfer, c'est les autres.)  As Sartre himself explained, this wasn't meant as a fire and brimstone condemnation of the futility of human relationships, but rather was intended to explore the idea that our relationships with others lead us continually back to the idea of ourself. And that it is possible to act in ways that improve our relationships with others.
        If we are at all interested in our interactions with our fellow human beings, we stand a much better chance of more successful interaction if we acknowledge how communication works.
       Specifically, as communication = Information --------> Idea, it is vital to understand that any information can have any number of ideas connected to it.  Thus it is that if we take some seemingly simple information such as: Japan, we might casually assume that it is connected to the idea of a country. It is, of course, but we can also connect it to any number of other things:
                                          Japan -------------> An island
                                                   -------------> A football team
                                                   -------------> A culture
                                                   -------------> A government
                                                   -------------> The home of sushi
                                                   -------------> The home of Samurai
                                                   -------------> David Sylvian's gang
                                                   -------------> Pearl Harbour
                                                   -------------> Hello Kitty
                                                   -------------> 被爆者
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　-------------> Oscar Goldman
                                                                          etc etc etc

       Any idea from any information will only be "correct" within a specific context as all information depends on context. Consequently, the goal of better communication becomes an effort to find and understand better ideas.
     How do we understand what constitutes a better idea? Simply put, it can only be that which provides a better description or explanation of how things work.
      For example, for the vast majority of human history the main and strongest idea connected to the information of our environment (animals, humans, the world, the heavens, day, night, plants, water, sex, food) has constantly been: God or gods. Considering the circumstances that our ancestors had to battle through in order to survive, that they came up with any kind of explanation at all is a triumph of the basic human skill of communication.
      An explanation of God or gods, however, offers little in the way of helping us to understand how things work. It is not mere coincidence that priests offer the explanation of: God works in mysterious ways.
     Generally then, the gods bring men more questions than answers. But it is only by using questions, our gift from the gods, that we can put information together in novel ways to form new ideas.
      With more information comes more idea. So when the historical tide of increasing communication carried Darwin's Beagle around the world, the new idea that returned on the crest of all this new information would provide a better explanation of how a fair part of the world worked.
     And so, instead of wasting time with the futility of debating whether basic evolutionary theory or God are  the "truth" it would be a much more simple and useful matter to consider which offers the better explanation.***
     This way, we must necessarily be more interested not only in those ideas of others, but even more importantly, more interested in those ideas of our own.

                                     All  we see of stars are their old photographs.


        3. Communication with the universe: Apprehend God.


        In his short story, The Nine Billion Names of God, Arthur C. Clarke spins a tale of a couple of western computer programmers who are hired by Tibetan Monks to calculate all the possible permutations of the names of God according to a sacred alphabet. This task is, according to the Monks, the most basic function of the universe and to carry it out is to do God's will.
       God's will, of course, has been a matter of intense speculation for what is almost certainly the near entirety of human history, and any number of interesting ideas have been put forth on the matter. It seems as though there is a basic human need for a spirituality that encourages belief in an other whom we refer to as god.
      This desire to orient ourselves within the universe is one major aspect of our constant communication with the universe. It is the universe we question, the universe we appeal to, the universe that lets us down.
      Surrounded as we are by all the information of the universe we can do nothing else but respond with ideas. For a long time, our explanation of the universe was simply God, or gods. More recently, we have come up with better explanations for how things work. Science can be seen as our ongoing conversation with the universe.
      If we leave God in the vestry for the moment, the majority of our interactions with the universe are in and among the classical elements of air water earth and fire.###$ Those things that were formerly considered to be the basic building blocks of existence.
     The information of oxygen gives the information of energy. A similar process occurs with food, drink and warmth. Everyday miracles of ordinary transubstantiation that often pass without comment or reverence or worship.
      The plants that provide our oxygen and food take the body of the sun and the blood of water which, combined with the ministrations of the holy photosynthetic ghost, produce the nativity. With carbohydrates the son of the universe.
      The world turns as information combines with other information to form new information. And it will continue like that until the Fimbulwinter.
     
                      Sunflower to God turns, asks," What?"
                      God beams and offers,"Let there be light."
                      Prana becomes the body of Christ,
                      Communion inevitable, unavoidable, unstoppable.
                      


      For not only is communication the only thing we ever do, it is also the only thing that ever happens.
      Why then, would we not want to improve communication? Why would we want to ignore all the evidence of history and avoid to improve communication, which is tied to any improvement in society, and attempt to maintain the status quo? ++++
      
       All around, without any fuss the stars, all of them, began shining brighter.
     
                                                 ---------------
      * Jimmy Corrigan's Granddad.

   ** My life in the Bush of Ghosts-
    

 
  *** It would, of course, be most illuminating and interesting to hear an explanation of why God provides a better explanation for natural history than does evolution.
   ++++ Which is great if you are in power. Another idea, however, is that maintaining the status quo is Status Quo's job. #

   ## Which, in itself, suggests rather fantastically## that Status Quo are agents of darkness,   doing the Devil's work.

   ### Or entirely appropriately depending on your point of view.

   #### That's not quite Earth Wind and Fire. But possibly even more groovy-



    $ Throw in ball-sport, and our dog-heart becomes apparent.

we all r star

Michael Jackson vs. Alfred Hitchcock: The magic of the Thriller.

The midnight hour is close at hand.

       In December 1982,  Michael Jackson's music video for Thriller emerged from the Stygian gloom of Union Pacific Avenue and proceeded to shuffle and clap its way across the planet; with continents and cultures of all kinds succumbing to the remorseless 40,000 year old funk.
      This particular viewer, however, was moved to ask: Why is this called " Thriller" when it's clearly about a horror movie?
       
      "It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature."
                    - Jorge Luis Borges*
     
        All communication always (most basically)  works as: Information -------> Idea. As any information can give any number of ideas, it is clear that communication relies on agreement of idea, or, in other words, agreement of definitions. It should be noted that when people are asked to define their terms, the most common responses are bemusement, anger, and the singing of crickets with the soft whispering of tumbleweed, as the question is ignored.
       Simply put, this is the way communication works. Don't blame me, blame god/evolution/explanation of choice.
      As this is the way communication works, it is also clear that different people will have different ideas about the same information. This is perfectly normal. A danger lies in anybody insisting that their definition is correct. What really needs to happen, for better communication, is to try to get more information to try and understand anyone's particular idea.
       It should be noted here that the basic skill we are born with that enables us to get more information- the ability to ask questions- has always been an enemy of those with power. Which is why traditional education has so little interest in questions.   
       So why was it called Thriller? You might think that unless Mr Jackson does indeed rise from his grave, dancing or not, we would be unable to ask the song-writer. But the song writer was in fact, as people are often surprised to find out, this man-
 
 

The wizard Temperton.

           The writer of Thriller is Rod Temperton, whose place in disco heaven** is assured by the fact that he also wrote Boogie Nights. (The original groove rather than the film.)
           Originally, Thriller was to be called Starlight, but, thankfully, Temperton was asked to come up with another title by Quincy Jones. According to Temperton, he woke up in the morning and the new title came to mind fully formed.***
            So where did this idea come from? Possibly a thirteen year old Rod was influenced by the local cinema showing  Psycho.
                               

Poster for Alfred Hitchcock's thriller. Influence on young Rods?

    The thriller genre that Alfred Hitchcock was so enamoured of has always conjured up (for me, and probably for most people) ideas of espionage and plans of murder. A protaganist who often is flung into a chaotic environment where friend and foe are not easily identifiable. The horror genre, on the other hand is usually defined by the presence of a supernatural foe. My own Hitchcock favourite, Strangers on a Train can be easily labeled a thriller, although it also contains horrific scenes. However, there is no clear supernatural presence.+
     Psycho itself is variously labelled horror or thriller or even horror-thriller, but what excuse does Michael Jackson have for stocking his video with zombies and a werewolf, two of the most famous archetypes of the horror genre?
     Of course, his excuse is: "It gave and continues to give pleasure to millions and nobody cares that it's called thriller."
     I actually agree with this quote from Michael Jackson that I made up. None of this is really important, it's just, to my mind at least, an interesting example of the way that communication works. Moreover, it is entirely possible to live a good and happy life without once giving any thought to the way that communication works. We can also be perfectly fine without knowing how blood circulates in our body, or how our heart pumps it. But, when there is a problem, knowing how the heart or blood circulation works is of such clear importance that it hardly needs mentioning. Ask people how communication works, however, and its importance is far fom apparent.
     And yet, as the entirety of human history has been about better communication, if we are to pay more than lip-service to improving things in the future then an understanding of how comunication works may even be vital.

     The role of definition in communication is fundamental, as any information can always give more than one idea. Thus, there is no correct idea, but rather an agreement on what the idea is in any particular context.
     Understanding this, I am not about to load up on guns and take Muhammad Wassab, Jermaine Jackson and Jermaine Jacksun hostage until the Jackson estate agrees to change the title of Thriller to Horror.

     It is in this agreement of definition, this agreement of idea, that the great power, the great magic, of human communication is revealed.
     If any information can give more thasn one idea then there is always the possibilty of better ideas.      Throughout our history, human beings have looked for better ideas.  Better ideas about God or gods, better ideas about agriculture and medicine; better ideas about music and stories and football.
     Better ideas about music videos and psychological thrillers.

     And I agree that horror is not a better title than thriller.


     But of course there are always other ideas, it's just that we want better ideas don't we?
     Well, if we do, we are going to have to define better aren't we?
     But why talk about stuff, something that requires a little effort, when there's so much great  entertainment available?
     Because communication is the only thing we ever do, and the only argument for not wanting to do it better is that we wish to live as #dogs



     And finally, the information of Michael Jackson, might also just give us the idea of: child molester.
     And that of Alfred Hitchcock might give us: serial blonde abuser.
     But whatever idea you have about these kings of the thriller, they also left us with these ideas; these pieces of magic:

              And that's just the way it works.

                 Although, perhaps less (real) horror and more (real) thrills is maybe something to aim for?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


* Completely failing to provide us with a definition of magic.

** Rod himself, might well prefer the other place-

*** We might consider whether the universe itself  should claim a writing credit. I think the fact that the universe has never claimed a writing credit on Thriller can be explained by the simple fact that the universe is bigger than that. Besides, although Rod temperton enjoys a house in Fiji, the universe already has homes everywhere.

+ We are, of course, free to argue that the character of Bruno is driven by the Devil ++ himself.

++ Who, when not simply enjoying his disco inferno, is handing out rail tickets.+++


+++

"Room for one more inside, Sir..."



 # Which is, of course, a choice. But if it is explained  it to the rest of us, then we can get a leash and muzzle for whomsoever wishes to do so