by Tai Carmen
Dear reader,
Thanks for visiting Parallax!
The word parallax is a scientific term denoting a shift in perception upon movement of the perceiver rather than the perceived. It is my hope that some of my writing can act in such a way upon the reader’s perspective.
Everything in bold is a link, so any provocative terms are portals to further elaboration; also, almost every image has a credit if you hover your mouse over it. If you like an article and wish to share it through social media, etc, double-click on the title of the post, and you’ll receive those options at the bottom of the page.
I am a poet ~ you can buy my chapbook, Pollen, from Finishing Line Press ~ with a bachelor of arts in literature and creative writing from UCSB. I am a freelance writer and editor.You can contact me for projects at tai@taicarmen.com.
Join Parallax on Facebook for the latest news. Also, www.parallaxweekly.com now re-routs to www.taicarmen.wordpress.com (this site) so it’s easy to tell a friend about Parallax.
Journey well!
Tai Carmen
I look forward to all your great works!
I shall be ordering two Pollen’s!
excited to get them
your words are moving and from a distance, I am proud to have known you and your Mother and Father.
PS. Love the pic!
“We live in a world of dead men’s dreams. Our reality, the society which has been conditioning our perception from the day of our birth, is a construction built upon a construction built upon ideas from other minds, long dead. Their creations compose our world and make up the maps of our psyches. A collective human inheritance.”
Ok, it’s now August 9, 1808. Jacob Tingler (b. 1781 in Bedford County, VA) is marrying Margaret “Peggy” Persinger (b. about 1780 in Botetourt County, VA) The wedding is in the bride’s family home and the couple returns to Jacob’s scrubby tobacco farm in Rockingham to live together. Jacob will live another 60 years and die on his son’s farm in Rich Patch, Allegheny County, VA. He will have buried his loving wife 9 years earlier on their tobacco-played-out farm in Rockingham County.
His world was likewise a creation of the dreams of others. He lived in a structured society, but much closer to the land and God’s creation than we must today. He was dependent on God’s mercy and provision for success. His signs were the color of the sky this morning, the shape and movement of the clouds, all of which foretold the advent or absence of rain. His day started and ended with the sun since the only light in the night was the inconstant moon or very expensive candles. He ate what could be raised and processed locally, including a lot of wild meat, berries, honey as well as what grain and other vegetables could be raised in the land not consumed by the land-hungry tobacco crop. He drank mostly hard liquor or water from a barrel.
“Today, staring at a red light in the shape of an arrow, waiting to get on the freeway, I was struck by the oddness of the symbol, or, rather, I was struck by my — and everyone’s — trancelike acceptance of the symbol. I noted how automatic my responses to the direction had been: I stopped calmly and waited until the light turned green. A perfectly reasonable thing to do, except, in that moment, I felt unusually aware of the lab rat-like nature of my obedience. Stranger still, I realized I had never noticed the phenomenon before, because it had always been that way.”
In his wildest dreams he probably did not imagine the ease of the lives of his great-great-great grandson and his new bride married almost exactly two centuries after his wedding on the other side of the continent. He probably dreamed of more free time, time to rest and relax, or if he was industrious, to get more done. He probably would have seized on any invention, practice or implement that would have given him even a small step toward that object. He probably felt like a lab rat in some ways, confined by the social structure and the demands of life to labor and produce for survival, powerless to free himself from it.
“Green light, go, red light, stop, yellow, slow down. It’s as if we are on a motorized conveyer belt with an array of endless arrows telling us where to go. Apart from the occasional miscalculation, our roads, our cities, our skies, run like the inside of a well oiled machine. Sitting there, waiting for the arrow to go green, I imagined looking down from an airplane at the grid work of cities, the straightness of sidewalks, the neat ribbons of car rooftops. Stop. Go. Cogs and wheels. The machine of the city, like the inside of a clock or a computer.”
Interestingly, Jacob and Peggy likely never contemplated their condition more than in passing. They lived in an age before ‘intellectual work,’ or even the free time to contemplate such things were confined to the smallest percentage of the populace.
I wonder sometimes if we aren’t made more for that sort of life, closer to the land. But even as I wonder that, I am in no wise ready to get rid of my indoor plumbing, my big screen TV, my push button heat and air conditioning, the enormous easy supply of food, medical care, and entertainments that make life today almost otherworldly to the children of the 19th century. I like to think the dreams of Jacob and Peggy and millions of others have brought us where we are. Our task is to understand where we are and determine how we can make it better, so that someday, our dreams will come to fulfillment as a benefit to others.
Great, what a moving
Beautiful work Tai. Have you considered self-publishing in the epub format?
Thank you so much, Patrick.
I have! My goal is to get together an expanded and revised version of the best of each season’s posts and make that a little ebook, which I’d actually like to have up for sale on this site. I love free knowledge, and that will always be here in the form of the blog, but the truth is I am trying to make a living as an artist without having to run the rat race, and my hope is to be able to sell some quality writing on this site as well. So yes!! I am looking into that, although I believe the epub is free and I am looking to sell my work, for a low price of course. If you have any further thoughts on the subject, please feel free to share them, as I don’t have much knowledge regarding ebooks as of yet. Thank you for your thoughtful and heartening feedback! Be well. Seekers unite! TC
I love your work! It has to be some of the most veritable knowledge I have seen of its kind on the internet. I have great respect for you and your quest for knowledge.
Well, thank you so very much! It’s a thrill to know there is a byproduct of readability and stimulation for others!!
Seekers unite!! 
you have many interesting things you speak of many things im quite familiar with , you know when you learn something new or you bump into something you were thinking of ?
well its something in quantum physics known as entanglement, i use this name since it fits it so perfectly. but of course i have my own definition added on to what is described in this concept.
Thank you! “Entanglement” is on my list of things to write about here!!
Dreamers unite!! TC
Hi Tai,
Pure inspiration!
What a wonderful blog you have !
Thank you.
Best wishes,
Viktoria
Thank *you*! I’m so pleased to have served the great cause of inspiration! Thank you for the kind note. Be well!! TC
Dear Tai
It was a pleasure coming across your blog, highly informative, as well as thought provoking. I will surely be a regular here and I hope you continue your writing, and give us the extreme pleasure of reading it.
Best Regards
Saad
Dear Saad,
Your sweet and thoughtful note made my morning! And feedback like this will insure that I most certainly *will* continue! Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Be well.
TC
thanks, tai! that we have the same interests and somewhat similar names is no coincidence to me! i will continue reading parallax, i find your writings inspiring and reinforcing– please keep going!
Thank you, name-ally! I will definitely keep going, with notes like yours coming through. It means so much to hear.
Dreamers unite!!! TC
I am completely blown away. I’m speechless. It’s insanity to find someone who shares the same ideals in this much depth. Thank you for this. Wow.
Thank you, Ethan! That means a lot to hear. Honestly, I wasn’t sure who was out there who would resonate with what I have to say either when I first started this blog…
But the responses to these posts, comments like yours, are blowing my mind!
I appreciate your comment so much — your articulated affinity feeds the fire of my inspiration for this site!
Dreamers unite!!!!!! TC
I really like your writing style, and the topics you write about. I hope you continue to keep doing it.
P.S: Have you heard of Robert Anton Wilson?
Thank you so much, Nikhil, for the kind comment.
That means a lot to hear. I only discovered R.A.W this year and was blown away. What a rare and wonderful breed he was! I have only read Cosmic Trigger (LOVED it). Is there another you recommend?
If you’ve discovered RAW, pretty much everything he’s written is gold for me. I would recommend Illuminatus trilogy (it’s a work of fiction, but pure genius), Prometheus rising and Quantum Psychology. Also, I have all of my RAW audio uploaded on http://www.themightyballs.com/RAW.rar (it’s a big download, but I’m sure you’ll find it inspirational and informative)
I’ve also been reading Grant Morrison’s the Invisibles (it’s a graphic novel) but with a very interesting narrative, and includes a lot of the topics you write about. Grant’s just an extremely talented writer in my opinion.
Awesome! I will totally download those audio files. Thanks! I will also look into your other recommendations…the Robert Anton Wilson reads you suggested and the Invisibles (I’ve been wanting to get into a good graphic novel…) Thanks for sharing! It’s amazing how many people really are on the same page, once you begin to follow the trail…Be well! TC
Its always a joy reading something so interesting and thought provoking that it forces you to get lost in links for hours its really encouraging to see someone with your talents using them in such a positive manner and spreading a message that is too seldom heard in our society here are some topics that are in the same vein as your blog that you may enjoy zeitgeist(film series), Edgar Cayce, Akashic records, I Ching, Jacque Fresco, the venus project
Thank you so much! Feedback like that means so much to me!
I do know what you mean about the joy of getting lost in links … I’m so glad you experienced that reading Parallax.
I will definitely look into your suggestions — you may see some of the topics covered in future posts!
Thank you for the shared thoughts and for the most appreciated encouragement. Seekers unite! 
TC
I just found your blog via stumbleupon and just wanted to say how much I love it. I often think something must be wrong with me to think the things that I do, I’m grateful to find someone who shares my views on so many things and who communicates the ideas so beautifully. Thank you.
Oh, thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. The world itself is so insane and certain large pockets of it so homogenous and unaccepting of perspectives that diverge from the brainwashed norm, it can feel isolating for independent thinkers, sensitives, and visionaries…But just don’t forget how much the world needs you. We need original thinkers, now more than ever. Outside the box is where it’s at
Dreamers unite! TC
Amazing blog! It never fails to inspire me to write something. Everything about it is amazing. Have you considered moving to/making a tumblr? Just a small one that links back to this blog every time you post anew. I think you’d find a large audience there, and it would just be easier for me to see every time you have another awesome new post!
Thank you!
I had not considered that but I will investigate the situation. Thank you for the idea! You can also sign up and get an email notification every time a new post is up (top right hand corner of the page, there’s a subscription button). Thank you for your enthusiasm. 
Dreamers unite! TC
Okay! I started a tumblr account for Parallax, please do spread it around the tumblr-sphere!
http://taicarmen.tumblr.com/
(I started with the first post I ever did…kind of a thesis statement for the whole blog as it turns out…I will keep putting up old blogs every few days on the new tumblr until it gets up to the current post, at which point the tumblr will be up to date with the wordpress).
Thanks for the idea!
TC
Thanks! I signed up for emails, and I followed you too. I’ll definitely promote you on my blog! You’re amazing!
Thank you! That’s awesome! I appreciate it. Stoked you’re enjoying the material.
TC
Tai,
This is a truly amazing collection of thoughts and the one I was hoping I could find all in one place some day! From the post-humanism, through the alienation of modern culture to the synthesis of mystical and rational in human mind, everything is just almost eerily echoing my interests and my train of thought. Being into post-rock music, I was pleasantly surprised about your band, I will definitely check it out. Please keep up with fantastic posts and I’ll do my part in sharing them wherever I can.
Wish you all the best!
Thank you so much for these good words! They are food for the spirit.
Here’s to post-rock! We are working on our second album at the moment — I think our post-rock aesthetic will be more realized in this record.
It’s exciting to hear comments expressing affinity for this particular evolving constellation of themes…summed up, perhaps best, in the archetype of the seeker-dreamer. It appears we are all having similar thoughts from Idaho to India.
If I can be a voice for many, or even some, it is an honor.
Cheers and be well,
TC
Hello, I just stumbled upon your “Parallax” blog earlier today, and I was definitely intrigued by what I saw. I found myself particularly interested by the title “Engineering Desire”, though that article focused on subject matter that was slightly different from what I expected after reading the first paragraph, which discussed sex in advertising. Anyway, I’m not too much of a “conspiracy theorist” myself, but regardless I was wondering whether you were familiar with Herbert Marcuse’s concept of “repressive desublimation”, which deals with how power structures- or whatever else you like to call them- systematically channel our “libidinous” and “primal” desires. This concept seemed to figure into your writing to some degree but I was unsure of whether you were familiar with his works. Essentially, without going too in-depth, as I feel the theory is already misunderstood often enough, Marcuse states that consumer culture has manipulated us into holding sex (for instance) as an act of rebellion- whereas in fact it is one tool by which we are now being controlled- so that the masses sate their urge to rebel against the social order by happily gobbling up all of the sex-laden messages they are broadcast instead of rebelling in some more meaningful manner. Ultimately for me it comes down to the notion that so many people think they liberate themselves through sex, while all they’re really doing is further indoctrinating themselves. Do you think this idea holds any merit? Obviously, such sexual objectification of females in particular also becomes a gender issue, and although I often tend to find myself on the wrong side of feminist bloggers even on this issue (many of whom insist that restrictive sexual taboos are among the most pressing concerns in today’s world), I would be very eager to hear your point of view on this subject both as an intellectual and a woman.
I have not yet checked out Herbert Marcuse but now I will be sure to! Thanks for that wonderful thought exchange…I was really stimulated by your ideas. They go well with some concept connections I’ve been working on myself, so this is very likely going to appear as a theme in a future post — thank you so much for weighing in!
I do think there is a major connection between the surplus of sexuality in media today and the idea of sating the masses, keeping them occupied and diverted. Like Victory Gin in the “1984″, or like Soma in “Brave New World.”
Oh, and to answer your question about whether the idea of sex-in-media-as-indoctrination (vs liberation) holds any merit, I would say it definitely does. The idea deserves more attention.
First of all, our culture, our media, tells us what is sexy. That is already indoctrination. Granted, one could argue that they are just natural human expressions finding representation in our permissive modern times…but I would argue that there are definitely certain images and connections which are more heavily reinforced than others in our major media outlets.
It has been different in different eras (I’d love to read Foucalt’s “A History of Sexuality” one of these days…) and in this era the idea of dirty/slutty as sexy, woman as [often fragmented, compartmentalized] object, is really being enforced heavily. There are lots of disturbing sexualizations afoot…and while one doesn’t wish to appear prudish or anti-sex…a lot of these images of sexuality seem to me like oppression wearing a mask of liberation. It’s disempowering for both men and women, but we are being told it’s empowering. A tangle you’ve inspired me to attempt some further unraveling of…
As a woman and an intellectual (thank you for that latter vote of confidence
) I am frankly disturbed by a lot the images we see and have been seeing for the past several decades out there:
Music videos like Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi where we see multiple glamorized images of dead models…a lot of imagery of winged women in cages (Miley Cyrus) or being portrayed as animals in animal prints with collars (Rhianna) … as soulless brainwashed dolls (the TV series Dollhouse) … without arms (Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga) … the list goes on and on. One can say, “Oh, well, it is the role of art to explore and to express.” This is true. But when a borage of disturbing imagery accumulates, it’s important also to analyze it, discuss the nature of the reality surrounding us; to ask questions of the status quo.
I think it’s a fascinating topic and you’ve inspired me to write more on it.
Thank you!
TC
Tai Carmen, you are simply brilliant. Just stumbed onto your Parallax site and in particular your Ancient Aliens and Heavenly War and The Pursuit of Happiness pieces. The first was thought provoking and extremely intriguing, the second was satisfying and inherently soothing. There really aren’t nearly enough people using a talent like yours as creatively as you do. So thank you
I look forward to many enjoyable hours on your site!
Do you have non-digital/electronic versions of your work for sale?
Wow, thanks Wes! Very sweet of you to say and it makes my day to hear. I am working on an e-book which explores the recurring themes I write about and how they connect. It will include some of the posts, but they will be expanded and revised, with new connections made and additional studies supplied. That will definitely be available soon as an e-book and I hope to create a physical press run of the book as well…may have to sell a few e-books first to get the money to print them. Should be available for purchase by the fall. Thank you for asking! Dreamers unite! TC
Please write another article soon, I look forward to reading them lol.
Ha! Thanks, I know I’ve slacked this month. It’s ’cause I got all wrapped up in the philosopher Spinoza, trying to break him down for a post proved perplexing, as his concepts are quite complex. I felt I had to read more of him to really do him justice. But I’m brewing a new post, just you wait!
i stumbled upon this site and couldn’t leave til I read several pieces, they just sucked me in! i am very excited to read more and continue checking back here, thanks so much for writing your thoughts and ideas.
-nicole
Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed the material! Thanks for stopping by, and come again.
TC
Hi tai
I loved your blog…there is so much to read 
And so much that speaks to me….I’m gonna come back again for sure…. Thank you once again for this effort 
Awesome! Thanks for telling me. Do come back! I have a feeling I’m just getting started.
Dreamers unite! TC
Your talent to apply such profound and complex philosophical concepts to the banality of everyday life is very rare and your writing shows exactly the kind of sense of purpose and priority that I believe is ultimately responsible for happiness of the fullest and truest nature. Thank you for sharing your clarity of mind so that it can help to guide others in the face of such a daunting world.
Thank you so much, Lucy!
That is absolutely my intention with this site, so it’s wonderful to hear that it’s achieving its purpose. The world can be very daunting, so I just offer up the thoughts which have given me clarity. It’s very gratifying to know they can do the same for others. Be well and good luck in your journey!! TC
I want to thank you for your blog, and for sharing your thoughts with the world. I literally stumbled on your Parallax site a few weeks ago, and when I read your post on The Outsider I was incredibly moved. I recognized myself all throughout the article, which meant a great deal because I didn’t realize that being “sick” (as psychologists often call it) may not be entirely bad. Your post motivated me to stop running from my “unhealthy” thoughts and to buy Colin Wilson’s book. I’m not sure what I hope to find by reading it,or if it will provide me with any answers. Regardless, I wanted to thank you for helping me to view my “problems” in a different light.
Oh, I’m so gratified you found it helpful! Thank you for letting me know. You might also enjoy my post “The Politics of Normalcy” — it’s related. And there’s a part 2 to the Outsider post coming! I think you’ll really enjoy Colin Wilson’s book; it gives one a lot of interesting references to check out as well, famous literary outsiders to read and such.
I really don’t think the world is made for sensitives; and we can suffer a lot before realizing we are just a rarer breed, and yet completely vital to society, even though we aren’t always given that message. With a little research though, the truth can be uncovered and explored, and one can begin to value the unique personal gifts your difference has to offer.
I always recommend getting creative as a way to navigate ones emotional life, playing out any internal conflicts through creative ventures. Whatever medium most beckons you, I highly recommend you find a low pressure, but stimulating local class. Creativity will help you uncover your buried selves and make use of your sensitivities and unique perspectives. To paraphrase Carl Jung: Our genius lies in our wound.
Speaking of which, I think you might enjoy this article:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/finding-love/201109/how-your-greatest-insecurities-reveal-your-deepest-gifts
Be well on your journey fellow seeker!
TC
Thank you for the reply! I have been enjoying Colin Wilson’s book, because it gives me so much to think about. I don’t entirely agree with everything he says in it; which I love because it forces me to examine why I don’t agree with Wilson, and what my own beliefs are. Reading The Outsider has also helped me delve more deeply into myself, which is something I have put off doing for far too long.
As for creative outlets, I believe you are correct. I took a creative writing class two years ago, and during that time I consistently felt alive. I have largely abandoned creative writing since then, because the demands of the psychology program I enrolled in have not allowed much time for creativity. But perhaps I should revisit writing.
I will check out the articles you mentioned soon! Thank you for all the advice!
Amen , to the person who see’s his problems differently after reading your blog. I know every time you write me a heat felt message, you give me a whole new perspective on things, Things that seemed so clear to me, become objects or facts that I see through different eyes. They become clearer, and I realize that there are some times views that we mistake for fact, or we think someone slighted us, when in reality our view just got clouded a bit. Well you bring me back to reality by showing me the other side of an opinion!
Thank you, Dottie. That’s sweet.
Hi,
I just want to say thank you. I’m in high school right now, and though everyone is actually really nice, nobody is really interested in what I’m interested in (I.e. reading, philosophy, stuff you post on your blog). Your posts always provide interesting things to think about, and even moreso they remind me that I’m not alone. Thank you so much.
Maddie