Fires Under the Great Neural Sky

By Shaine Greenwood

Written over the course of five years, these poems grapple with purpose and reality from a myriad of existentialist perspectives and themes. Through these poems, we travel through the cosmos, to various mythological settings, and even to our own neurons. If you're seeking to rearrange your grey matter, this is the collection for you.

 

This collection is broken up into seven sections that are based on core existentialist concepts. Each section comes with its own unique stippling drawing and a brief bit of info on the concept.

 

Existentialism is humanism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shaine Greenwood
• Release date: Aug 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201455507

Book preview

FIRES UNDER THE GREAT NEURAL SKY

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Shaine Greenwood

Dedication

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To Katie—

Through randomness we met,

In a universe most random.

But I’m luckily beset,

With you in tandem.

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I love you.

About this Collection

Life is utterly without purpose, and that’s okay. This collection grapples with meaning in a meaningless cosmos, love and perception, truth and despair — and the anxiety we all feel when bouncing between those positions.

Reader, these poems are for you. But they’re for me, too.

- Shaine

I. Authenticity

Authenticity.png

What is Authenticity?

Authenticity is the alignment of our thoughts and actions with who we are at our core. Jean-Paul Sartre illustrated authenticity by depicting inauthentic characters in his novels. People who didn’t understand why they were compelled to take a certain action, as they normally wouldn’t, since doing such made them incongruent with their values.

If you’ve ever done something that you normally wouldn’t have due to a belief or conviction you’ve established — and I know you have, as have I — then you were breaking away from your authentic self.

Learning and adapting a newfound understanding for the many-layered world around you doesn’t constitute inauthenticity. That’s normal growth. Inauthenticity is when you compromise your personal morals, without an epiphany beforehand, typically for the sake of a comfort and status that you covet.

In this short time we have on Earth, wouldn’t you rather live your life as your authentic self?

Identity

I am a cluster of memories

And principles

And beliefs

And of course,

I am an assortment of cells

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I am a perception

In your mind

And mine

And of course,

I am an amalgam of both

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I am an identity

Made of truth

And lies

And of course,

I exist somewhere in-between

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I am an existence

Made of life

And death

And of course,

I am everywhere and nowhere

Love

Love me for what I have written;

Not for what I might write.

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Love me for the words I’ve spoken;

Not for what you think I’ll say.

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Love me for the footprints I leave;

Not for where I might step.

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But most of all, love me for my will

My will to live in the present.

Purpose

Take care of the body

To live a little longer

As a spec on a spec

Of dust on dust

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Take care of the mind

To