In my meditation today, I found myself visualizing H.A.L. 9000 in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey as he was being shut down for malfunctioning.  H.A.L. stands for Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer. According to AI, heuristically means that the computer would “solve problems, learn, or discover things through practical experience, trial and error, or mental shortcuts rather than strict rules or exhaustive calculations”.  It was programmed to be like “us”. 

Oddly, I found myself reflecting back to A, B, C, and 1, 2, 3.  Then I settled into earth, water, fire, and air, and felt my blood and bones, the movement and passage of air.  Can a computer do that?  Perhaps.

Herman Hesse wrote: While wandering down the path of wonder, I briefly escape the world of separation and enter the world of unity.

The morning when I read that the president wants the new fleet of aircraft carriers to more resemble those from World War II even though the change could cost billions, I thought of how senility can settle in so that one doesn’t know what time period they’re living in. They’re caught in a world of separation, their own mental breakdown.

I’m hoping to keep flossing my brain cells so my synapses can flow and connect to the time in which I live which changes every moment, and yet, within impermanence is simplicity as we adapt, connect and perceive a world of unity.

Our president needs to be shut down and removed.  He is malfunctioning.  It’s way past time.