Musings on Non-Violence, Time, Economics and Innovation

http://youtu.be/TTFm_fxeusA

When you utilize an attack-weapon, or kill-device or seek harm and initiate force, you manufacture a scenario of necessary response from the victim. Primally, I know that the wielding-with-intent of a weapon against me would induce a dominantly visceral response, not one of arduous logic. I would thereby expect the initiation to almost automatically create a violent scenario. 

 Once it has been initiated, either with a gesture towards the weapon, a firing of the weapon, a swing, or any other means of initiation, you have generated a fundamentally visceral and primal situation. These situations are resolved without foresight or lengthy reflection, but an instantaneous reaction, a reflex of survival.

This doesn't necessarily claim that it's resolved with a reaction of force, flight is a potential response in many cases. The undertaking of flight with the subsequent pursuit from the initiator is still a violent scenario. You're forced into a state of completely adrenaline-filled terror or, more accurately, desperation for survival while someone pursues you further.

Violence is an equation that begins with an initation. You could argue that violence begins with the formulation of motives but at the point it is yet to be violent. Also, motives can be subsequently abandoned and never enacted, therefore violence does not occur in the formulation of motives but in the initiation. Once you have initiated force against another, you have then manufactured the scenario of necessary response. In the absence of initation there is consequently an absence of violence.

Time, Economics and Innovation 

Time is the ever-receding resource of temporal form. Being a temporal form, but equipped with foresight, the utilization of time as a resource is inevitable. Hence our rigid work-schedules, set sleeping schedule, eating schedules. We harness it for immense efficiency, but efficiency is relative to the pursuit. Our current pursuit is one of economic development, of extracting and utilizing natural resources to continue to expand the economy. In the effort you manufacture tasks for people, with a particular reward. This reward would be money in our case. Money being a universally-identified thing of value. 

 When you look at food, intently and carefully, you see the slavery were all intrinsically bound to. We work for food and shelter, when living in a city. This food and shelter is provided for us so that we may dedicate our time to other means. But someone has to tend to our necessary demands, we just don't all have to. So an economy is reasonably an inevitability of city-life, which itself demands the need for lawful enforcement, sewage control, waste control, electricity.. We have a lot of nuanced tasks that need to be completed by somebody almost full-time. To abandon our economic model is to abandon a system that enables immense diversification by unifying every citizen under a common value. A value is necessary for the exchange of goods and services.

 Perhaps, though, our present economic system is creating values which are fundamentally unsustainable and harmful to the environment. Harming the environment is a fundamental wrong; you do not corrupt your sustaining force if your goal is sustain yourself and your offspring. It's fundamentally incompatible with even elementary logic; if you rely on something for sustenance and continuance, you do not corrupt it for immediate or near-by gains. Particularly so in the knowledge of a time-span that exceeds your own lifetime. One which stretches for eternity, through your offspring, and through there's until it cascades down into the infinite. Perhaps a perpetual existence is possible, firstly we need to preserve home base while we work towards expanding beyond a single resource-base. Makes sense, no?

Once we've reached beyond earth the instrumental adaptations that occur on the new planets will substantially individualize the separate planets, with each becoming its own breed. The environments we'd have to respond to are as of yet unknown, but that doesn't mean they're unknown forever. Discovery will happen if facilitated. Imagine all the foreign environments were simply yet to perceive through the senses, with no present clue as to how to manage them. Our ingenuity would be released into novel environments, manufacturing an entirely novel reaction. And as we've seen on earth, once we invent our tools, our tools become an inseparably symbiotic reliance. 

Responsibility and Accountability

In order for this tribe, or cluster of people unified under a universal currency and an ever-evolving moral theory, to exist peacefully and prosperously we need to be accountable for that which we are responsible. This moral-umbrella that we're sharing is of course not a static thing, rather a continually accreting and morphing thing. With new principles slowly weaving in and antiquated principles being slowly relinquished. 

If we're all going to implicitly agree to partake in the offerings of this culture and society, we should all adhere to similar principles and if not, at least adhere to non-aggression. Always, in the proceedings of evolving this thing, ideas trump violence. Indeed, ideas can prevent violence, this requires the agreement of non-violence of course. It may not be a contract but certainly we individually agree to behave within parameters that harm no one, so we can all function in harmony and prosperity. This is what civilization is, or at least should be.

When someone commits an injurious or debilitating action against another, what do we do? Of course, under our system of justice - punishing those that harm or debilitate - we respond. The response to evil, or wrongdoings or harm or debilitating actions, is necessary. We cannot avoid it. This doesn't grant that it's an inevitability of human-behaviour, but in the occurrence of it there must be a response. With this population-density combined with the dissociative nature of our tribes, evil,  debilitating, harmful wrongdoings are evidently present. 

So how do we respond?

 I wouldn't suggest that prevention is the one and only saviour, capable of entirely expunging evil from civilization, but it's an effective agent. Through early teachings in reason, logic and philosophy, by instilling dialogue as a means of resolution, I would assert that we would experience a lower frequency of inappropriately settled disputes, thereby reducing violence. Twofold, reason encourages compassion, reason permits rational resolutions of things. For this to occur we would necessarily need every citizen, or the overriding majority, to agree under some means of unification. 

 We all enjoy harmonious interaction with the members that form our closes bonds. A social mammal relishes in social environments. Not necessarily all social environments, but certain ones. That one friend you reciprocate with well, your group of friends, etc. It assures us we aren't alone, that we're all traveling through this nebulous journey together, figuring it out as we proceed through. That we will support each other and relinquish prejudice and censorious behaviour and coalesce. These qualities are indisputably beneficial, my own and your own experience confirm this. 

Earlier I mentioned that due to the density and dissociative nature of our tribes we experience evil. What does that mean? How could it be corrected rather than combatted?

 It's evident, through anthropological studies, that humans are tribal animals that rely on cohesion and alliances, that we thrive in tribes. In the tribe, each member must be responsible and accountable. If you are responsible for building the huts and they collapse on me,  you're accountable. If you're responsible for cultivating the food and come winter we suffer a famine, you're accountable. There's an intricate web of responsibility and accountability, with each member relying on each other. 

 What's essential for the tribe is that each member sustain a relationship with each other, in order to track their behaviour and ensure they're working for the benefit of the tribe. When a member commits a crime against the tribe, they're accountable to the whole tribe,  because civilization doesn't progress through delinquency. 

In order to ameliorate the present state of our tribes, I would argue we need to erect more incentives for communities to function like communities. This would include things like: more localized systems of government that focus on smaller constituencies, local food production, smaller schools with fewer students, and more accountability. As our population continues to increase I think it's vital that we focus on smaller communities because as it currently stands, government is elected by the majority of the minority. Constituencies are becoming too large to accurately account for everyone. 

Journaling the Ideal-Self

The concept of the ideal-self fascinates me. I think there's an inherent image contained within all of us that represents ourselves at our best. The you that wakes up out of bed and immediately steps outside onto the dewy grass, letting the blades caress the crevices between your toes while you listen to the birds and praise existence. The you that adequately tends to your health, ensuring your cardiovascular system is healthy and your body is mobile and free of any constraining tensions. The you that reads captivating and wise fiction, the you that reads philosophy and learns how to apply reason to your decisions. The you that periodically analyzes your own beliefs and scrutinizes your patterns of behaviour as to ensure you don't become ensnared by habit and ritual. The you that consistently exerts a commendable effort in anything you do and relishes in just that, the raw effort.

Our ideal selves may individually differ in the content but I think the context remains the same. The general route-to-reward involves the same tactic: journaling. I think journaling is a universally effective tool that assists in the pursuit of whatever our ideal selves would do. The journal not only records what you've thought but serves as a reminder of who you were when you wrote that, what your ambitions were and who you wanted to become. It holds you accountable for your intentions, whereas ordinarily you could dismiss them if they weren't written down. Perhaps the most beneficial and humbling element of the journal is the reflection; peering into the past and cognitively gazing at your previous self, feeling the remnants of your old self and relishing in the progress. 

 A journal, regardless of the form it assumes, is an extension of our internal cognition. It becomes the content of our brain; the intentions, thoughts and actions we experience internally are transmitted to an external extension of ourselves. If someone were to pick up your journal, open it and begin reading it, they'd discover at least a portion of the contents of what's internally capsulated within your mind. Now this is a riveting concept. 

Let's assume you kept journals for every minor and major goal you had in life. Every little task that needed to be completed, you first journaled about completing and contemplated the most effective or satisfying means of doing so. Including mundane things like vacuuming, arranging items in your room, what you wanted for breakfast. In the journal you’d reason about things and occasionally rant about how difficult it is to vacuum that one corner in your room behind your bed, how your pet instinctively avoids the vacuum by sitting high on your desk, monitoring the vacuum incessantly. If you had a treasure trove of these journals and left them in your attic or stored them in your closet, you'd have a vault containing the experiences of yourself. An extended source of all that is you, your feelings on things, your reasoning for things, your activities, your goals, etc.. 

This could feasibly become the most valuable source of connection for your progeny once you're deceased. Imagine leaving your children with a vault of your experiences, with journals that revealed your goals and the subsequent journals that had you reflecting on the accomplishment of these goals. For a temporal creature, aware of the inevitability of time, this is a mighty and influential bequeathment.

The Duty of the Citizen

The Duty of the Citizen

The dangerous element of democracy in its present incarnation is that the control and manipulation of the majority is the route to success. Success in politics is not contingent upon the most sound moral and logical principles but simply on the largest amount of votes. Moral and logical responsibility is not a necessary condition for a political candidate. If you want to be voted into power, the facts, evidence, and critical reasoning of the few is irrelevant. A scientifically- and logically-illiterate society is dangerous for precisely this reason.

It would be a drastically different issue if the state we're trying to disallow the people from any attempt at gaining scientific or logic literacy. Quite the opposite is true; libraries are abundant and educational institutions are accessible. The issue, I argue, is with the people, not the state. 

Given that is perfectly plausible for citizens to equip themselves with the requisite degree of reasoning skills and for citizens to study through the internet at their leisure, we categorically possess the ability to change our society. If you disagree with a particular moral stance of our society, provide sufficient reasoning and make your case, don't just disagree and scoff. If you feel your reasoning is sufficiently competent to challenge or inform  our politicians, do it! There are public meetings which are frequently held for the purpose of discussion amongst local constituents. 

Additionally, through the medium of technology, skilful argumentation is rewarded and shared. This is the "viral" phenomenon enabled by each citizen being equipped with a universally-connective device. If you really disagree, not out of pure emotion but ethically and reasonably, with a particular component or element of our society, you can challenge it. Anytime, anywhere. You could fight animal captivity on the toilet, or pollution while waiting for the bus. There's a word-processing app on every smartphone, it's not just an accessory, it's there for important reasons, one of which being the equipping of each citizen with the means to give input.

The duty of the citizen, however, is often a humble and unrecognized performance. It is a silent performance in many cases, a performance of choices. Society is a construct of collective individuals, with each individual's decisions contributing to the status of the state. For example, the task of reducing human kinds ecological impact first begins in the realm of collective individuals, with each citizen diligently recycling and earnestly working towards fewer emissions. More car porting and bicycling. It begins with the collective realm of individuals deciding they no longer need coca cola or any other arbitrary product which contributes to corporate-greed. 

The duty of the citizen, in an ideal democracy, is a cumbersome yet intrinsically rewarding task. It involves each citizen regularly expanding their reason and examining everything without prejudice. It often involves tasks for which there is no praise, no monetary compensation or congratulations. It doesn't involve the competition of capitalism but the unification under moral-law. Where we choose the most ethically sound course of action rather than the most immediately-satisfying course of action. It involves arduous studying,  a slow-development of rationality in each person. It is in our duty itself we find reward, it is from the duty itself that we slowly construct the ideal-society.

Wander and Ponder Entry #3

The recognition of my recent patterns of behaviour has been beginning to arise. A keen indicator of this would be my urge to walk. As the title of this entry would suggest, the most conducive activity to thoughtful reflection is an aimless walk, a lengthy wander. 

Over the past year, I've begun to recognize that my mind goes through energetic phases in which my desires steer towards strenuous exertion, activity, and play. The duration of these phases is usually,  based on recent observations, a month to three months. My phases seemingly reach a peak at the three month mark and then gradually transition into the next phase.

After those few months of exertion and outward expression I seem to fall into a type of introverted hibernation, in which I prefer to walk,  read, write and relax. This is a period of thoughtful reflection and thoughtful projection. A time to sort of analyze the mechanisms of my past behaviour and align my present for a fulfilling future. I think that this period has become an inevitability for me, a productive inevitability. 

Until now, it seems that this pattern has been happening without my agency. I've become a subject to my patterns rather than a master of them. Earlier this year when I was actively writing my blog I was performing an identification of these mechanisms. Following that period of identification I lapsed into a period  of unrestrained experience. I became a victim of these mechanisms. I suppose that period is conducive to the subsequent analyzation, perhaps even necessary for it. 

I think it's vital to subject your own patterns to scrutiny periodically. In the absence of periodic scrutiny you can become a victim to your patterns and if this persists for years you'll find yourself far into life in a position that is a product of habit and pattern-like behaviour. I think this is a pernicious threat to our emotional, spiritual and physical health. 

Employing the word "spirit" can often pit you in a confusing predicament. Spirit is one of those confusing words which meaning manifests in different forms to different people. Some believe that the spirit is this intangible essence that persists beyond death. Within this belief system you have sub fields. If it persists beyond death then it either incarnates in another physical form or it transcends this existence and moves into another realm. In other cases the spirit of everything is shared and universal. This is different from the other version because in the two systems I explained the spirit is an individual. In those other cases, however, the spirit is one with everything and every material manifestation of this universe is connected and inseparable. Furthermore, there are belief systems which intimately connect each of these beliefs and form a sort of unified system. 

Regardless of these established belief systems, there is something experiencing what the eyes see. There is something that is experiencing the phenomenon of existence. Although we like to imagine it as this separate and intangible essence, it's tethered to this being, indisputably. If you're body and mind are unhealthy or dissatisfied, so to is your spirit. This creates a bit of a conundrum because if our spirit were separate why does its stability so rely on our physical and mental well-being. Why can we become so snared by habit and ritual if we're supposedly this essence of consciousness that controls this incarnation?

Wander and Ponder entry #2

It seems that our, or at least my, energetic patterns are aligned with the environment in some mysterious and intimate way. It's as though my energy and desires are synchronized with the Earth's wobble, as the seasons change, the hormonal balance within my body invariably responds. During the summer it - it being my energy - grows into a vibrant wave, it's akin to the cycle of the trees. When the temperature and climate warm up my desire to assert and accomplish rises alongside it. 

Just as it rises with the climate,  so to does it gradually descend into the 'introverted hibernation' that I've now identified, an equally effective analogy is a sort of "character cocoon." This hibernation, as it were, begins near the end of September and around mid October it reaches it's steady state. Once in the steady state, where it balances and persists until the next rise, my desires steer towards calm walks, reflective thought, reading, writing, and meditation. The calm walk is a template for reflective thought and active meditation. Reflective thought is an inevitability after a strenuous or eventful few months, which occur during the summer. 

This pattern could plausibly become a source of confusion for many people. To follow the pattern smoothly requires sensitivity and a capacity to yield to your patterns. If it begins to occur in the midst of resistance or reluctance, you'll feel a strange sense of emptiness or inadequacy. It's normal and natural to experience a trough in your energetic patterns, you don't need to feel weak or defective. 

If you've set lofty goals for yourself which involve extreme and strenuous exertion, such as training for an event, don't feel weak when the energy isn't there. Especially if you've been exerting yourself for the past few weeks or months at exceptional levels. The pattern of existence is one with highs and lows, exertion and recuperation. Relent to the seasons and experience all the patterns of existence. 

Wander and Ponder

Sand People

We're literally a walking composition of our environment. We become products of the materials we consume, we are our nutrition. Perhaps this explains the strong and indomitable affinity that indigenous tribes harbour for their local environment, they are not only participants in their environment, they are their immediate environment.

The consequence of non-localized food is an apparent disconnect from the environment. We seem to be aware of the disconnect yet we're still snared by the disconnect, the evidence of this surrounds us, it's interwoven into our societal infrastructure. We value jobs above environmental stability, money above health, material above self. The fundamental structure of our society clearly indicates that we've gone slightly insane. The reason our insanity isn't blatant is because we create cultural consensus which enables behaviours that would otherwise appear ludicrous. We're literally allowed to temporarily poison ourselves (alcohol consumption) yet not allowed to relax with cannabis. We've literally allowed ourselves to meddle and menace with ecosystems in the pursuit of jobs.. If you remove your cultural blinders and just observe our actions as an animal of the environment, this is indisputably insane...

I'm not asserting our disconnect with the Earth is solely and directly attributed to our non-localized diet but I am suggesting it may play a key role. When you're foraging and eating within a radius that you are capable of travelling within, you feel the connection. If you're at least moderately active you can see and feel the difference your nutrition makes, and if you were a forager within your environment you'd have to be moderately active. You'd notice that when you eat a particular berry your energy soars. 

The molecules that comprise our entire form are constructs of our nourishment, our cells reproduce with the given materials. It would be logical to assert that if you're molecules are a construction of your surroundings, you'd have a fundamental connection with the area you inhabit. Your environment would come to rely on you to eat the berries, receive the nourishment and subsequently excrete the seed in another location, which enables the berry bush to extend its reach. You would become reliant on your environment to provide the nourishment. This is the symbiosis of life.

The Progression of Pondering #2

The rational and symbolic "third-eye" is not a mechanism through which we communicate with external realms but a mechanism through which we delve into the infinity of the internal. Consciousness, rather than a sensory sensation is the sensory sensation of sensory sensation; consciousness is not feeling happy but the feeling of feeling happy. It's the inexplicable and intangible phenomenon in which the subject is a subject of their own mind.

Controlling, and perhaps quelling impulse, is a component of cerebral-consciousness, it's the ability to detect impulses and then decide to enact that impulse or quell it. Gaining control over impulse is permitted through symbolic competency, for myself, that is actualized through linguistic symbols, but symbols have many forms. Additionally, some achieve cerebral-control through consistent meditative states or psychedelic experiences. I liken consciousness to observing the observer.

We, at least some of us, can observe the observer, but there's an intimate relationship between the two, they aren't mutually exclusive. They rely on one another to maintain optimal performance. I envision them as being connected by a hormonal and perceptual tether. The awareness of sadness doesn't reduce the sadness, it needs to be expressed. That's where the observer of the observer can contribute; the observer feels the sadness, the observers observer perceives and directs that sadness.

Compartmentalizing the mind is a tremendously empowering tool. Assigning impulses to their respective compartments is a way through which the rational "third-eye" can manage the impulses, choosing to enact some and dismiss others. There seems to exist three different yet universal compartments: mind, body, and spirit. Spirit merely serving as a linguistic symbol for that intangible essence; the observer of the observer. The mind is the compartment responsible for generating fear in response to danger. The body is responsible for our urge to copulate and exercise. The spirit has the objective seat of observation; the spirit operates in our best interest, although it can be suppressed by allowing the other two influences to gain dominion.

Fear isn't a necessary response to danger, so our spirit would tell us. Fear is a fabrication of the internal but danger is a very present puzzle of the external, that's undeniable. Danger doesn't demand fear but fear will certainly impel you to respond; fear will elevate your heart rate, release adrenaline and prepare all the mechanisms of the inner-animal to respond, but that isn't necessary in most circumstances. For example, fear of future events, fear that something may happen to you if you embark on a risky endeavour, fear that you might get rejected by the girl you want to talk to, whatever your fear may be. Fear is not a necessary response to many dangers, in fact, fear is a hindrance. Think of all the times you may have seen someone who you wished you had said hi to and now you'll likely never see them again.

Imagine danger as an obstacle with many routes, fear is our immediate-route because it can instantaneously impel a response; rumination is futile when you're immediately presented with a predatory threat. But, as I've said, it's not necessary. It's an animal-mechanism developed over billions of years; but our spirit knows better. The best cage-fighters aren't the ones fueled by fear or adrenaline, but the ones who maintain an inimitable composure, the ones who harness fear not become harnessed.

The material-pursuit, the pursuit of monetary success, is a mirage of the mind. The monetary pursuit certainly breeds or impels a certain form of excellence, but that excellence is often devious and conniving. Business, although it doesn’t necessarily need to be, is a realm of deception, where the cruel manipulation of a population’s ignorance is rewarded. This is particularly prevalent in the food industry. To become irreversibly infatuated with the monetary pursuit, when done unethically, is a behavioral symptom of little-spirit and large-mind, two of the three mutual qualities of a human. It’s an imbalance, an imbalance of character. The observing observer doesn’t care for profits or rewards; only insight, experience, ingenuity, kindness and sharing, because these traits propel a prosperous outcome for everybody.

Meditation is a harnessing of the spirit to conquer the mind-body impulses. Not so that you may become immune to their grasp or spell but so that you may harness it for growth and improvement, so that you may harness it to your benefit rather than allowing it to harness you for its benefit. Meditation comes in myriad forms, it’s not just silence and humming while sitting cross-legged; meditation can be achieved through any activity that requires the best of you. Endurance running has helped me achieve meditative states because your mind is unremittingly bombarding you with the urge to stop but your spirit denies the request. That, and writing, have been the most effective and enlightening forms of meditation for myself and many others.

The spirit is merely a linguistic symbol to depict the intangible essence that is capable of perception despite having no external sensory stimuli. The mind and body are capable of responding to external stimuli in the absence of cognizant consideration; like I said, when you’re faced with an immediate predatory threat rumination is futile. That particular stimuli relies on an immediate and instantaneous response, but the mechanism responsible for responding to that stimuli is inherent in all animals, including ourselves. That mechanism, even with the advent of modern-civilization rendering it nearly obsolete, is still present and still influences our behavior. Our linguistic symbols allow us to investigate our instinct and question it. Spirit is a symbol itself that encapsulates the notion that consciousness is not a product of stimuli-response but the response to stimuli-response.

Willful Ignorance - A (very) Short Story

In the stillness of the open meadow, all he could audibly register while he was intently gazing into the reaches of eternity were a few distant critters scurrying about. His backyard was an expansive field of grass in the distant country, very far from any light-distortion. As he lay with his hands resting on his chest, returning the gaze which was cast on all matter, he became acutely aware of his heart thumping in his chest. Each thump perpetuating his cognizant existence yet causing it to recede, the mortal paradox. As he was tuning into his internal chatter he felt his body dissolve and his spirit unshackle, he became a singular component of the cosmos, with everything else also becoming a singular component. Diminutive fragments of an unfathomably colossal cosmos. Everything, in this eternal moment of connection, radiated with elaborate harmony. The orbits of every star, the interactions of every molecule all amalgamated into a single symphony. It was as if he were partaking in the vastest symbiotic symphony conceivable; every decision spawning an infinity of possibility, contributing to the direction of the cosmos. In these moments he did not feel insignificant but inconceivably powerful, with the power to influence the course of eternity. He sat up, gasped, and walked inside.

Infinite Wisdom - A Short Story

Infinite Wisdom

Thump, thump, thump, the incessant chatter of his heart persistently reminded him of his mortality as he lay in bed. His thoughts constantly reminded him of the trauma, his heart constantly reminded him of his imprisonment. As he tossed and turned in his bed he concluded that sleep would remain elusive for tonight, so he sat up and reached for the light on his bedside table. Beside the light rested a bottle of Jack Daniels, the usual solace for a restless night. He grabbed the bottle and made his way to the kitchen, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. Once in the kitchen he reached for the cupboard which stored his glasses for occasions such as these. He began to pour the alcohol, watching it pour like a waterfall; seeking escape yet finding imprisonment. 

He regularly sought alcohol when his problems became unbearable, when his heart wouldn’t stop beating and his head wouldn’t stop talking. Although, and he realized this every time yet never changed, solace in alcohol is akin to entering the boxing ring against Mike Tyson with your hands shackled behind you. It never solves the problems, only revitalizes them and disables you from properly solving them. In fact, it would seem, alcohol only exasperated his problems. But his culture hadn’t equipped him with any other tools; there weren’t any resources within his reach.  There was a liquor store in every city, though. 

As his glass reached its capacity he hastily moved it towards his mouth and poured the first burning sip down his esophagus. When it reached his stomach he felt his entire body revile at the foul liquid, but his mind forced him to continue pouring it down. Sip after sip he continued to pour it down until his glass was empty and once his glass was empty he would refill it. Once he was pleasingly intoxicated he stumbled to his front door, haphazardly threw on his shoes and opened the door. Into the night he went, a lonely and troubled man who would wander with his thoughts until he passed out. 

As soon as he started the walk the thoughts bombarded him. Everything that ever traumatized him seemed to strike him all at once in an overwhelming whirlwind of assault. As the thoughts began to bombard him he began to talk to himself, telling himself he was a failure and all he was good for was how much alcohol he could consume before becoming intoxicated. 

When he was young his mother had abandoned him, she was a young female, perhaps too young, and she became overwhelmed by the responsibility of a child. She had walked out one night and never returned. His father, shortly thereafter, became depressed, seeking solace in alcohol. All his parents had instilled in him was that you can run away from your problems, and if that doesn’t work, you can numb them until they shut up. So here he was, the lonely man who never had a loving parent, who stumbled through the streets at night crying and talking to himself.

Now, he was sitting outside a local gas station, his head spinning, and a cigarette dangling from his mouth. In his head, an entire army of thought seeking to demolish him from the inside out, as he was staring down at the concrete with tears streaming down his face he overheard a person walking near-by, heard them drop something. He didn’t see the person because he had looked up too late but he saw what they had dropped: a journal. He stumbled towards it, tossing his cigarette mid-way, and picked it up. It was empty.

He began to stumble towards his house; it would seem sleep was now not so elusive because now all he wanted was to rest his head on his pillow. As he reached his front door, he sluggishly twisted the handle and opened it, stumbling into the entrance of his home and stripping his shoes off. Down the hall and through the door, now he was in his room. The world around him was spinning, as though he himself had a rotational axis and an orbit. He crashed down onto his bed, unable to even remove his clothing before he passed out.

He awoke dizzy and disoriented. He turned his head and saw a blue notebook lying on his bedside table where his alcohol usually rested. He must have put it there before he passed out. As well, he felt something in his pocket. He reached into his left jean pocket and extracted a blue ball-point pen. He couldn’t remember how it had found his pocket but it had. 

A year later our troubled protagonist was now fitter than he had ever been in his life and had a steady relationship with a woman who fulfilled every desire he had ever had, she comforted him and assisted him whenever he needed it and he would do the same for her. They became a symbiotic force of affection, the power of love had seized him and he willingly allowed it to. He had found a job working at the local newspaper, writing all sorts of articles but he particularly focused on self-help. 

That morning he had awoken dazed and disoriented he began a habit that eventually persisted through-out his life. When he extracted the pen from his pocket he began to journal. Initially, it was just a pass-time; but eventually it became such a fundamental habit that when he felt the urge to intoxicate himself, he would resort to the pen and paper. The pen was the tool of infinite wisdom, although it summoned all his demons it also equipped him with his suit of armor and sword. They do say the pen is mightier than the sword; perhaps it is also more powerful than any drug.

Contentment - A Short Story

Night had fallen and as per usual, he was outside, performing his self-assigned duty. He was a middle-aged homeless man, subsisting under the poverty line happily. Because, although he was poor by societal standards, he was rich by personal standards, he may have had no money at his disposal but he still took it upon himself to ensure his cities neighborhoods were kept tidy and that his message was spread. He was a selfless man, by day he would collect cans scattered on the road and sidewalks to recycle them and earn a modicum of change to feed himself and by night he would clean up the day’s accumulation of trash on the streets. For this man, this was not a problem but rather an occupation-opportunity. He sought solace in ensuring the neighborhoods were kept clean for all the children, parents and seniors that inhabited them and in spreading his message. He had no material possessions beyond his clothing, and in this, he was content.

He wasn’t always homeless, quite the opposite. Several years ago, he was living the “good-life.” He had an exorbitant home atop the hill with a view of the entire city, where the rich gaze upon the city-dwellers from their fortresses. He was an accountant for a large corporation, one which sold asbestos-ridden materials to developing countries, countries which had no other option and had no idea how insidious asbestos was. He was perpetuating the capitalism system, preying on the weak and profiting. By any regular means of measurement, he was a success, he made his mommy and daddy proud by suffering through math and accounting courses in university so that he could wear a nice business suit and pollute the world.

It would seem money can, in fact, buy happiness. Until you’ve bought all your happiness. He was very happy living a life fueled by money, in fact, he was relishing it. He had bought numerous cars, some he didn’t even drive, he had filled his home with antiques and lavish furniture, and he decorated his exterior, hiring landscaping companies to upkeep a garden that would even make the Garden of Eden appear inferior. He wasn’t committed to a single mate so he was a free bachelor with an enormous savings account, satisfying his urge to fornicate frequently. Plainly, he appeared to have everything a man could desire from the 21st century.
It all came crumbling down on him when he was diagnosed with lung-cancer, given only a fifty-percent chance of survival. Accordingly, he used his enormous savings account to pay for all the best treatment he could.

When in the hospital however, he witnessed people of all societal classes coping with the same affliction as he, he saw that any and every human is bound by mortality, regardless of wealth. He saw children with no hair and no muscle, skeletons with a layer of skin, he saw seniors who now spent their receding-days bound to a bed, and he saw seemingly healthy young folk confined to a bed, also only given a fifty-percent chance of conquering their ailment. Regardless of his enormous savings account, he now had to rely on his own body and his own instruments, surrounded by people suffering the same affliction and by people suffering even worse afflictions.

By some mystical, perhaps unexplainable stroke of luck, after being told his chances of survival had diminished below fifty-percent to a meager ten-percent, he survived. In the duration of his fight against cancer, however, he developed relationships with other patients who didn’t have the same luck. He talked to people of all ages, got to know them very intimately and even shared a cry with each.

After being omitted from the hospital he systematically relinquished all of his possessions, starting with the contents of his home. How he did it was quite remarkable, he would package things in a box, leaving the receiver unaware of what was contained inside. In the package he would leave a note with a succinct and simple message: “Pay it forward.” Once he had packaged everything he spent the following few weeks walking around aimlessly, knocking on doors and proffering his package to any home or person. He would visit homeless shelters and offer some of the food he had stored in his kitchen and would offer to take them out for lunch or dinner and allow them to order an unlimited amount of whatever they chose. He went to hospitals to encourage patients not to give up in the fight, that with the proper determination and belief they could conquer their ailments and that when they did, their lives would be enriched, not diminished, by the disease.

Presently, he was just beginning his routine nightly-cleanup of some neighborhoods. He would walk with a shopping cart covered by a few flattened plastic bags he had recovered so that small garbage would stay inside. Diligently and happily he was collecting garbage for the sake of everyone else, so that other people don’t have to suffer the inconvenience of garbage.

As he was finishing his last neighborhood around one in the morning, he heard a loud thumping, as though a powerful speaker system was nearby on full volume, playing a series of thoughtless thumps. The music of the youth, he thought to himself. As it grew nearer and nearer he also heard people, it sounded as though they were celebrating something, perhaps a birthday. A limousine, he confirmed when he saw it come into view. Atop the limousine, poking out of the sun-roof was a young man in a nice buttoned up t-shirt and slicked hair, his friends congratulating him, yelling “He’s graduated!” In his hand was a bottle of booze, he was chugging it down like life had no end and consequences were a fabrication. As he emptied the bottle he threw it to the ground just ten meters from the selfless garbage-man, shattering it into hundreds of fragments.

The message behind this story: Just like this, we can chug from the bottle of life with no restraint, as if we’re immortal and there are no consequences, but eventually, just as the bottle of booze becomes empty and shattered by its beholder once it has been saturated, you too will experience the inevitable shatter. When life becomes empty, once you’ve drank the drink and danced the dance of material-pursuit, you will shatter, and how you cope with that shatter is your burden.

The Progression of Pondering

The Progression of Pondering

I’d like to firstly present a potent quote that I recently read in the novel I’m currently engrossed in entitled Dune and it’s written by the brilliant Frank Herbert: 

“Many have marked the speed by which Muad’dib learned the necessities of Arrakis. The Bene Gesserit, of course, know the basis of this speed. For the other, we can say that Muad’dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It is shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad’dib knew that every experience carries its lesson.”

Envision society as a celestial ball, much like our Earth, with a labyrinth of layers with an elaborate interaction between each of these layers. Within each layer is an independent level of complexity, nonetheless, each layer is reliant on the other layers to maintain a sound structure. Human society has defective or perhaps corrupt layers, but in order to manufacture the solution you mustn’t dwell on the layer as the sole perpetrator or the sole culprit. Flaws in a particular system, be that biological or societal, must be dissected and evaluated as a puzzle with many pieces, some pieces need re invigoration or improvement, but some could remain. 

I enjoy many aspects of society, generally, I’m very satisfied that I live in a colony of humans. I relish in knowing that I will not be harmed when I leave my house so long as I myself restrain from dangerous activity and I relish in the guarantee that my next meal is immediately attainable and I relish in the ability to rest and relax in a secure abode. I’d like to think that we could all harmonize and dwell in our colonies safely, but this is often not the case. There exist other, antagonistic, colonies of humans who don’t share the same fundamental characteristics: their morals are different, they’re bred and raised differently and taught to believe in different things.

Gradually, through the inevitable process of accretion, we will surpass this, so long as we maintain a reflective and responsible populace and seek to bridge the gulf between cultures by unifying our people and ideas. Kind acts begin by first understanding thyself.  A reflective person, one who inwardly explores themselves intimately and frequently, is less likely to cause harm to another person. It’s difficult, for me at least, to wish harm or verbal-affliction on another person because I have spent much time alone with myself and my own thoughts.  

 I’ve cried completely by myself, I’ve deconstructed my ego and sobbed as if I were a child. Although that’s a very personal journey, it is universal in nature. We all experience sadness whether we enjoy sharing it or hiding it. The deconstruction itself, although very crucial, is not the focus. The deconstruction process is imperative for the re-construction, and that’s where you can instigate all the change you’ve been surreptitiously formulating in your mind or you can return to your normal routines, the same ones that led to your distention.

Our brains are intricate mechanisms; the soil for ideas is often cultivated beyond our cognizant recognition, the thoughts you are thinking today, given you’re thinking creatively, were probably being forged in the depths of your mind in the days past. I, just today, had a very intimate and personal experience where I had to be by myself in order to cry due to an experience I had yesterday coupled with numerous other influences in the past which only came to fruition today. After that lengthy deconstruction, where you’re absolutely stripped of your egotistic barriers which we all harbor, the man had to take the reins and recover from the collapse. The collapse was inevitable for the re-construction and I am now a decidedly stronger person with a stronger grasp on my intentions. 

Much as every human must experience the collapse of ego and then embark on the re-discovery or re-construction, so too does society. Much as when you collapse into the emotional whirlwind of sadness, you don’t emerge as an entirely new entity, you are that same entity with a stronger grasp on your intentions, on your proclivities, on your ambitions, on your influences, on everything that comprises you. The infrastructure remains:  you’re still a habitual, hormonal ape. How you proceed with that infrastructure has been drastically re-aligned though. The healthiest way to re-construct society is not by rioting and destroying everything, which has happened in the past and in extreme cases those belligerent apes have destroyed key-pieces of intellectual property that set humanity back, forcing us to re-discover old ideas. The healthiest way for society to evolve is through accretion because unlike the forces of natural processes, we can reflect. We have hindsight and we can correct mistakes, we’re quite omnipotent in that. We’re an organism, accreted through unreflective and random processes of biological interaction, which can reflect. An unreflective universe created a reflective organism.

 Through reflection we can seek to identify the defective traits of our society and seek the solution. The solution to problems is often multi-faceted and layered though. I’ll give a personal example to illustrate this. I initially wanted to write this blog because I thought the youth, on a general level, were not thoughtful enough and was not contemplating the future consequences of present actions. This stems from my fundamental belief that you cannot change the world but you can most certainly change the way you yourself live and influence others.

So, I wanted to share my ideas and offer some practical tools, well how do you that most effectively? On the surface it’s a simple sentiment but it harbors intricate implications. First, you have to write daily and you have to write for lengthy periods of time, so there I had to foster an entirely new habit, catering my supplementary tendencies to writing. What I do outside of writing must not detract from my ability to write. Writing is also far from facile too, writing requires tremendous ability: the ability to reflect, the ability to amalgamate copious influences into a single idea, the ability to convey your idea in your unique voice… Then, I had to start studying as well because you need the proper information in order to convey the sentiment you wish to convey. Then again, my life had to adapt to that activity so that when I choose to study I can do so with attentive thoughtfulness. As well, I needed a medium to present my expositions through; ideas deserve dissemination, so I had to create an entire blog around my ideas and advertise it and ensure it’s interesting enough to engross readers. You can imagine the implications of that, it becomes quite a job. Additional to all this, you can’t seclude yourself in your room and write until your fingers fall off, you need to then learn to convey your ideas vocally and concisely so that you can quickly transmit your idea. You don’t have the luxury of an empty word-document and unlimited time when you’re interacting with someone face-to-face. So, hopefully that illustrated the intricate nature of any undertaking, although it does go deeper, for the sake of brevity I’ll end it at that.

It’s brilliant that people are aware of how defective and faulty our system is, don’t misinterpret me, awareness is absolutely vital. Awareness is not the sole component of change though, how you utilize that awareness is also present in the equation of change. Let’s say you realize how defective our educational system is and then feel compelled to tell people: “School only manufactures cogs to feed the machine.” Well, that’s brilliant, yes, indeed, it does. But is it correctable? Do you understand how and why our system is defective? Where does it begin? Are we bred to mindlessly contribute to a system during infancy? If so, does that begin through the educational system or does that begin through inadequate parenting? Are we not allowing our youth to experience enough things that harbor lessons, when our children fall and scrape their knee do we pamper them too much? An injury must be tended, not complained about. So you can see how awareness is imperative but that awareness itself is inadequate. Whenever I recognize a defective trait in myself or in the “system,” I spend hours writing about it and systematically coming to a conclusion that suffices my mind.

 If the system is corrupt, but the system is fundamentally inter-connected to the youth, are we doing enough? Lessons are not instilled but rather garnered through personal means. Touch the stove top and then you’ll understand why to keep your hand away from it. Insult someone and handle the retaliation to understand why it’s beneficial to abstain from insults. Love someone and understand why it’s imperative to love every human – even if it’s not evidently expressed – the way you love your mate. The best way to teach a person to build a house is not by giving them a home but rather giving them the tools to make a home.

 So perhaps our educational system is not the folly, but rather our parenting methods are, perhaps we’re raising children incapable of extracting lessons from every minute influence. Personally, I grew up with little to no parental guidance, I wasn’t grounded for poor behavior or punished for the things I did. My dad, perhaps unintentionally, allowed me to suffer the consequences of my actions for myself. If I stayed up too late, the next day was mine and mine alone to suffer on an insufficient amount of sleep, so I learned the importance of sufficient sleep. If I feasted on sugar I suffered the crash. He allowed me to personally cope with the consequences of my actions, this method isn’t inscrutable or perfect by any means, and perhaps another kid would need more guidance to cultivate the ability to extract lessons; for me, it worked.