the sin of obsessions
There is no forgiveness for the greedy
since there is no greed. Sin bores me. Talking
of it. Stating that there must be, smugly,
one fixed value to this, to anything,
continually proves wrong. And confessing
to crimes? That is not poetry's function.
Has your advice ever solved suffering?
These wars, like sex, continue. Abortion
is just as essential as food, passion,
water, god. There isn't an original
sin that has not been done. All your zillion
crimes and the world has yet to stop. Artful
dodger, who was cast out? Our cowardice
springs from a world thrilling, unknown, vicious.
The topic of "sin" came up recently in a conversation and I began wondering if there was a universal sin? They say there is a universal mother but I was curious if there was something everyone could look at and say, "that is a sin" and no one ever would disagree. The more I thought about it the more I concluded sin is simply a social construction and that most of us confuse the idea of sin with our own inner demons, thus making life miserable for everyone else.
I think you can tell a person who believes in universal sin a mile away because the things they are upset about and outraged over and standing in front of Planned Parenthood with picket signs all day long for and claim are "sins" are always things that change with public moods and times. I am obsessively listening to Sonny Rollins right now but not that long ago many people thought jazz a sin. It is hard for me to believe that but its hard for me to believe in racial superiority and loads of people of all colors go around spouting out the worst nonsense you ever heard so just because a room full of fools say it is true doesn't mean it is, I suppose. I mean, look at the Promise Keepers. If you want to see an example of repressed homosexuality self-hatred just go to one of those meetings and talk to their members. Their own fear of being seen as an "other" makes them both hate themselves and hate everyone around them. Thus, they say, "being gay is a sin." That is what you call faulty logic, or as Ghandi would put, bullshit.
But perhaps obsessive behavior is a sin to some? It can certainly cause misery. But is it a sin? I wrote this note to a friend this morning:
Have you ever become obsessed with a song and played it over and over, irritating all those around you but you can't get it out of your veins? In fact, you know it so well that all the little shifts in tone and the building of noise and sound gives you tingles as you ride out the wave the song makes? I've been listening to this one cut by Sonny Rollins, Sonnymoon For Two, and I can't get enough of it! I mean each note the saxophone makes I get geeked over, the rising and rolling of the notes building up and the drums in the background. I wave my hands , wig-wagging about, grinning at the pauses and low bits of sound. I've hit repeat on the CD player … what? 8 times so far and I think there will be a 9th right after I am done with this …
There was and a 10th and 11th as well. Is saying "geeked" a sin? The inconstancy of the human soul makes it hard for me to take almost anything seriously but who I really feel sorry for (if they existed) are robots. I mean, Star Trek Conventions aside, I always found the Cyber Punk genre's obsession over artificial intelligence and cyborgs and whatnot and whether robots have their own morality or not a tad bit … obsessive? neurotic? boring? But to give the authors and legions of fans the benefit of the doubt, no, they don't. End of argument. That's why I feel sorry for the robots. They don't even have enough creativity to be banal about what they consider sinful like we do. Perhaps being banal is a sin? Making misery for the rest of us because you haven't worked out your own bad karma? It is as the Star-bellied Sneetches all know:
… [They] had bellies with stars.
The Plain-bellied Sneetches had none upon thars.
The stars weren't so big; they were really quite small.
You would think such a thing wouldn't matter at all.
But because they had stars, all the Star-bellied Sneetches
would brag, "We're the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches."
Ah, humanity, I love you!